Friday 18th August

Once upon a time there was the BBC.  And the news was trusted by everyone.  We had nothing else.  Okay, there were Newspapers, The Sketch, The Herald and the ones we still have.  But newspapers have always slanted the news to their own Political Agenda.  Then we had ITV, which had its own news, ITN.  Sometimes I would watch both, and by and large they were both carrying the same stories.  Now we have multiple channels and 24-hour news on tap.  I am still amazed that both Sky and BBC still have slots where they review what ‘the papers say’, as if their own reporters weren’t out there anyway.  But by and large most of the news on the TV is ‘real’ news, however slanted.  But, the most important person is the News Editor, the person who decides, not only what is actually news, what we should hear about, but what the main stories should be, what in their opinion is the most important stuff we should be seeing.  And more and more this is becoming ‘politicised’.  At the beginning of the last election campaign Labour were being written off by all the news channels, almost ridiculed – but they had a legal responsibility to report, so they grudgingly showed Jeremy.  Only as the polls seemed to tighten did they even suggest the possibility that Labour might do quite well.

But now we have the internet, and a multiplicity of news available.  Friends, me included, post stories we think might be of interest or which represent our own ideas.  And there are links to all sorts of ‘news’, some of it reliable, some not.

But more and more we are hearing accusations of ‘fake news’.  Completely made-up stories, fabrication, reporting of events which have never happened.  We even now have the President of America accusing respectable news organisations of running fake news stories about him, when we can all see him, the Emperor in his naked new clothes.  Tweeting – the use of just 140 characters is now the ultimate news channel.  No detail, no explanation, no way of checking facts (indeed, how are we to ever check the facts – that is what we have reporters for), just an opinionated headline.  Fake news is now competing for our attention alongside more established media.  It seems that in this modern world you have to decide just who you trust, and who is running fake news– you pays your penny, you take your choice.