Its fair to say that the UK media has held a grip over what happens in this country for a number of years, and in my opinion this grip has tightened over the last 15 years to a point where they can pretty much decided what party is in power, what public opinion is on all range of subjects and who we love and hate as a society.
Recent examples range from encouraging us to decide who we like in X-Factor, to forcing referees to quite the game of football due to public pressure and abuse following a media “witch hunt”. The power that these thin sheets of red topped newspaper hold is amazing. But we as a society seem to accept this and are happy to be led along like Lemmings.
From a Policing point of view we have seen the Police become a national scapegoat on a number of occasions and it’s fair to say that at times we have not helped ourselves. That said, there have been incidents whereby the media have ripped open the case and basically played judge and jury to persuade the country to come to the decision they want.
Recent events involving The News of the World have shown the British tabloid media for what it truly is. Ultimately a selfish, arrogant, swinging axe of an industry that doesn’t care about its bulldozer approach, nor the devastation it leaves in its considerable wake.
The general British public have been horrified, appalled and disgusted with the actions of a minority of “reporters” - and rightly so. Yet, this stinks of double standards. The News of the World is the highest selling Sunday paper, and by some considerable margin. People were happy to buy and read its gossip and poorly researched stories and terribly evidenced reports as long as it didn’t directly affect their lives.
But it seems that recent events affect the general public and people are starting to realise the paper for what it is and are showing an open disgust towards its approaches. The phone hacking of soldiers families and it’s direct link with stories that touched the National heart strings such as the Milly Dowler case and subsequent phone hacking have made people sit up and take notice. However, how do people think the NOTW have come about all the gossip they have enjoyed for so many years?
I’ve heard people say, “The News of the World will just re-open under a different name”. However, if this happens it will be clearly reported to the public. That will then create a decision. Do people forget what happened and hide behind the excuse that it is a re-branded name and continue to buy the new product. Or do they stand fast in their disgust and refuse to buy it?
We, as a society, need to remember that we hold the power here – not the media. If we choose not to buy their papers, then they will ultimately have to change or close down. I fear however that the majority of the people will put that little bit of gossip and scandal ahead of morals and standards. As a country we love to moan that things don’t get done, that we are hard done to and that no one listens. I’m sorry, but this is bollocks. We hold a greater amount of control now than we ever have done, we just aren’t led properly to believe it, or we fear that if we stand by our decisions that we will be “the black sheep” and everyone else will not follow and we will stand out and be mocked.
I can imagine a lot of people saying, “Well, what do you suggest then?”
OK, if money was no object and I was in a position to do so, this is what I would do:
I would call for all the good people of this once Great Island to come together and unite as one. Unite behind truth, justice and a sense of doing “what is right”. We don’t need lies, we don’t need scandal and to read/watch people do anything for 2 minutes of fame by simply degrading themselves for our amusement [I’m thinking Jeremy Kyle et all] and we should embrace reasonable, balanced, fair and impartial discussion and debate. We should be proud as a country and promote the good. It isn’t “cool to be bad” and you don’t get what you want by shouting louder and more aggressively.
In replacement, I would create a national newspaper called “+POSITIVE” and I would employ select journalists to write for the paper. I would invite anyone to provide stories via a website to provide the rest. The best stories would be selected and the people chosen would be given a set price for their piece.
The stories selected would be based upon “positive outcomes and stories” rather than revelling in sorrow and delighting in misfortune. The employed journalists would report upon the national events, but from a completely new perspective and to promote the good work done rather than enjoying the mistakes made.
The paper would be a closer link between media and public as the public would be large contributors and as such the direction the paper takes would be set by the public. Support would be given to people, industries and organisations who are trying to do good and right. It would be a positive look at the UK.
Would it work? Would it make any difference? I don’t know.
But its got to be better than being programmed like we have been for years.
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