What is it with the British media?

[JJKelsall]

I've always found it highly irritating that there seems to be a tradition in England which makes me ashamed to say I was born here. Why is it that the media heralds specific people, such as Morrissey, but the moment they do something slightly controversial or different they slate and ruin them every chance they get. I mean, you read one article praising Moz for one thing, then condemning him the next. They are so two faced and it really frustrates me! I mean, look at Amy Winehouse; she was praised at the start, then shamed because she did drugs and then just because she died she was accepted back by the press and they built her up to be a huge icon which, (although I find her a great singer) she sadly wasn't for the majority of people. Most irritatingly of all is of course, the fact that people blindly take what is read in the papers as gospel over the actual people involved themselves.

Anyway, I was just wondering what your take on this is and if it is just the British media, or if that's the way it is done everywhere?

[dave.jay1@ntlworld.com]

...Short answer JJ....I suspect it's done everywhere....they have to sell those papers somehow......

[Amy]

Most other pop stars are dull as hell, and their only 'controversy' is living out that tired old cliche of drugs/sex/rock'n'roll. Moz is different. He's interesting and he's respected for his intellect and lyrical ability - even by his detractors, which is why papers like the Guardian felt it necessary to stage a cultural "debate" over the merits of his every utterance. Even if the Press are tearing him limb from limb, they're investing time and effort into doing it, analysing and dissecting his opinions ...in short, taking him seriously. They just wouldn't do that with Rihanna, would they?

[Amy]

I'll also add that in terms of the British media, Morrissey's "Englishness" often defines him - he's an incredibly English artist and that means a lot of people tie their loyalty to him in with some sense of national/cultural identification. The Smiths were virtually an emblem of anti-Thatcher sentiment, after all. We've all seen the ugly side of that mentality, and often the critics use it to his detriment - like Quantick in that notorious Word article, who portrayed him as a neo-fascist hypocrite peddling a fantasy of Old England that never really existed - but generally I think it offers an insight into why the British Press treat him differently to many of the international papers.

[JJKelsall]

I think your right, but I still dislike the methods of the media and how people take everything they read seriously, believing it entirely without question. Well will they understand that newspapers don't exist anymore to tell the truth, they exist to make money, just like everything else and if they have to lie and exxagerate to make money, then they will.

[Amy]

"Not everybody is absolutely stupid"

[Anonymous]

So there's a few bellends in the press and that's enough to make you ashamed of being British lol

[JJKelsall]

I'm sorry, but there are more than just 'a few bellends' in the press and it is shaming, because the media of a country is one of the ways people on the outside view another country. Our media is terrible, mostly concerned with so-called 'juicy' gossip, about sex scandles and the like and even when something serious comes up, it is overhyped so much that I get sick of hearing about it. It is shaming because the media reflects the times and culture we live in, just as language and popular culture does and all of it combined (not just the press) makes me feel ashamed to be British, because it has lost so many of its attributes that made it what it was; a great country.

[Worm]

I'm sorry, but there are more than just 'a few bellends' in the press and it is shaming, because the media of a country is one of the ways people on the outside view another country. Our media is terrible, mostly concerned with so-called 'juicy' gossip, about sex scandles and the like and even when something serious comes up, it is overhyped so much that I get sick of hearing about it. It is shaming because the media reflects the times and culture we live in, just as language and popular culture does and all of it combined (not just the press) makes me feel ashamed to be British, because it has lost so many of its attributes that made it what it was; a great country.

I find it interesting that you're attacking the British media when what has happened is obviously an Americanization of the press. Can't you feel proud again by blaming the Americans? Shifting the blame across the pond? It seems like the decent thing to do here.

Well will they understand that newspapers don't exist anymore to tell the truth, they exist to make money, just like everything else and if they have to lie and exxagerate to make money, then they will.

=America

[cornelius blaze]

I find it interesting that you're attacking the British media when what has happened is obviously an Americanization of the press. Can't you feel proud again by blaming the Americans? Shifting the blame across the pond? It seems like the decent thing to do here.



=America

[Worm]

...

Strictly Queensbury rules, boys!

[peptastic]

Would it make you feel any better to know we have our fair share of trashy news and lies?
Even the supposed "liberal" media is just as crap. Few and far between hold Obama accountable for the same things they villified Bush over.

Take Nancy Grace.
[I mean really take her. We took Piers Morgan]

Propaganda is probably older than the Nazis but they proved how effective it can be.
It's never going to go away.
I find it ironic we have an award named after Pullitzer for good journalism considering how unethical he was.

America's got a bad habit of trying defendants in the media. The media is a double edge sword. Yes it can hold people accountable socially who are "above" the law but they also edit radio calls and lie.

Now they have a reason to distract people but there seems to be a point where attacking the same celebrities should be boring.
Lindsay Lohan was drunk you say?
Moz said something about meat eaters?

[goinghome]

[M-in-Oz]

Can't we blame a former Australian for this, dear old Rupert

[123xyz]

Can't we blame a former Australian for this, dear old Rupert

I can't help but grind my teeth at even reading the name