JP would not end “press bias” in the UK
I see that some people are signing up to a Facebook group about “press bias” in the UK.
Apparently, “the daily newspapers "The Daily Mail" and "The Sun" during this election debate have been completely pro conservative and pushing for votes for David Cameron.”
Are we meant to be surprised by this? Did anyone set up a similar group when The Sun announced it was supporting Labour last time around?*
Surely a better way of wasting time alleviating feelings against “pro Conservative press bias” is to buy a copy of The Guardian.
*It has to be said that I thought that this particular announcement was a stroke of genius.
Comments
Firstly, it's not anything approaching good journalism - particularly the spurious allegations about Nick Clegg (it was telling that even Lord Mandelson distanced himself from them on the Radio 4 Today program). It hardly enforces the Conservative message of change when they are still allowing their media to play fast and loose with the truth and descend into something little better than mud slinging.
My second issue is rather more specifically towards Murdochs papers and his belief that he can pick and choose who wins an election. The man is an odious example of a human being and shouldn't be allowed to subvert British politics in the manner that he intends.
Political bias is always going to be prevalent in the written media but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be challenged. I accept that a facebook group is perhaps a ham fisted attempt to highlight a wider issue but it is certainly in the zeitgeist and will reflect, to an extent, public opinion.
The written media is still one of the most potent political forces, so in my view it isn't unreasonable that some tough regulation should be set down - particularly where party politics is concerned - to ensure that the standard of journalism is high enough that we can be certain the articles are truthful and well researched. There is a place for editorial commentary, but it should be exactly that. Opinion isn’t fact and the British press, on both sides of the aisle, has been guilty of reporting it as such for far too long.
Having a political bias shouldn’t prevent news being reported in an objective fashion and sadly, whilst both sides are guilty of lacking objectivity, it is often the so called “Tory Press” which is particularly guilty of presenting a negative or fearful view of a story as this appeals to their base.