Watching the Press

Watching The Press

The Press Lies to You

Sometimes For Political Reasons

Sometimes Just Because They're Crap

Some Examples

“ Downton downsized... by two hours because American TV executives fear its intricate plot will baffle U.S. Viewers” - Daily Mail

“ Eight-hour ITV series slashed to six for the States”

“ On ITV, the series, [...] ran with advertisements, while PBS - the Public Broadcasting Service - is free of commercials.”

“ On ITV, the series, [...] ran with advertisements , while PBS - the Public Broadcasting Service - is free of commercials .”

ITV: 15 mins of ads/hour PBS: No ads

ITV: 8 hours (includes 2 hours of ads) PBS: 6 hours (no major cuts)

Simple maths

“ SALT shakers are being removed from fish and chip shops in a nanny state ruling on what we can eat.” “ The petty diktat is supposed to be part of a healthy living drive to lower salt consumption which has been linked to high blood pressure.”

“ Cash-strapped Lib Dem-run Stockport Council, facing cuts of £50million over four years, wants fish and chip shops, cafes and Indian restaurants to hide salt shakers behind the counters.” “ As part of its campaign, customers who notice no salt on the counter or table will have to ask for it.”

“ Cash-strapped Lib Dem-run Stockport Council , facing cuts of £50million over four years, wants fish and chip shops, cafes and Indian restaurants to hide salt shakers behind the counters .” “ As part of its campaign , customers who notice no salt on the counter or table will have to ask for it.”

Not national Not a diktat Not a ban

Winterval

War on Christmas

Birmingham City Council 1997/1998 Winter festival Included Christmas http://www.thedisinformed.co.uk/2010/12/12/the-winterval-myth/

Science

Tabloid journalist + Science = Disaster

“ controversial vaccine”

Uncritical reporting of unscientific nonsense

“ Ask the doctor: Will natural remedies shift gallstones?”

“ Scientists say homeopathy is undiluted hogwash. But it CAN work - and that's all that matters”

“ The dance boss who hasn't seen a GP for 42 years... thanks to natural remedies and a pair of infrared pants”

This is not new

So what is new?

The Internet

1. New audiences

Who would pay for a tabloid?

But when it's free on the web site

See any Daily Mail comment discussion

2. Fact checking

2. Fact checking (Not by them, of course – by us)

“ Google threatens to destroy not only pop sensation Adele, but Britain's film and music industries. So why is No.10 in thrall to this parasitic monster?”

“ The company wants to plunder intellectual property —songs by Adele and other British singers — so that it can disseminate it free to anyone who logs on to Google anywhere in the world.”

“ One only has to switch on the computer, call up the Google search engine and type in the name of a star like Adele...”

“ Nine out of the first ten websites which pop up on Google’s search engine are run by pirates”

3. Sharing

“ a heavily orchestrated internet campaign” -- Jan Moir, Oct 2009

Some interesting projects

churnalism

istyosty

Caches web site content

Share links without sharing click revenue

PCC Campaign

1: Equal prominence for retractions, corrections & apologies

2: Retain URL for retractions, corrections & apologies

3: Code should cover headlines

4: Sources to be credited

5: Longer consultation for more fundemental discussions

“ Thank you for your suggestions”

“ We don't want to do that”

Press Watching Blogs

The Sun – Tabloid Lies the-sun-lies.blogspot.com @the_sun_lies

Mail Watch mailwatch.co.uk @mailwatch

Express Watch expresswatch.co.uk @expresswatch

Five Chinese Crackers fivechinesecrackers.com @5ChinCrack Enemies of Reason enemiesofreason.co.uk @stebax

Tabloid Watch tabloid-watch.blogspot.com @tabloidwatch The Daily Quail dailyquail.org @dailyquail

Angry Mob butireaditinthepaper.co.uk @uponnothing Nadia Knows nadiaknows.blogspot.com @NadiaSaint

What can I do to help?

Follow our 3-step programme

1. Read tabloids

Google Reader is your friend

2. Check facts

It's really not hard

3. Share your findings

Blog Twitter Facebook

(In the real world too)

Tell us

Spread the message

The Press Lies to You

Dave Cross @davorg dave.org.uk

Watching the Press

by Dave Cross on May 21, 2011

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