Gullibility

When we had rumours of riots close to where we live we had neighbours telling neighbours all kinds of wildly inaccurate things about what was going on to the point of shear stupidity yet, even days later, so called responsible media had still not retracted some of the obviously false reports that they had published online.
We found very little information that was not contradictory and it wasn't until late that night that a statement was put out confirming our suspicions.
Now, having read this: - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14490693 I'm wondering if anything will be done about it because it seems that people are far to trusting of the published word these days or too stupid to realise that not everything you read is the truth.
I seriously believe that the media is now far too powerful the world over and things published under the all-encompassing "in the public interest" is a cop-out just to sell newspapers and / or advertising space to a potential markets of drooling retards - or so you might be forgiven in thinking. stevmk2

Re: Gullibility

I dont believe what I read unless it is from a source that I trust and I dont trust anyone until they prove they can be trusted.

That has been my moto through life and it has stood the test of time. One reason why I never buy a newspaper.

People are to trusting an very gullible.

Re: Gullibility

I still like to look through various newspapers if only to see the difference in reporting the same event, quite amusing sometimes.

I certainly would not ever accept at face value anything the BBC reported on.
Mark Twain is reputed way back to have said. "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes".

In todays world it is a good bit quicker than that.

Re: Gullibility

Good for you Hammer - I rarely ever read just one report in the news that I do read, which, to be honest, isn't that much these days because there's just too much "spin" (fabrication!) added and sometimes I can't tell if a story has been "sexed-up" as they say (really!).

I started my working life in Shoe Lane, just off Fleet Street at Beaverbrook Newspapers; The Evening Standard to be precise but The Express was part of that group and I got to know people in various other newspapers pretty quickly.

Journos adding their own spin to one-liners added column inches and I often heard and saw them doing this on the Editorial Floor because, as a messenger, I often dealt with the incoming ticker-tape machines etcetera and took them to whatever desk most likely to want them.
We used to make up our own stories and see how close we got to the eventual published story! I doubt that that has changed much!
I also worked for the BBC and although I loved that, I saw the decline coming and witnessed savage cuts that took the heart out of it and many, many good people made redundant.
Those people made the BBC as far as I'm concerned but now it's run by grossly overpaid accountants fronted by "celebrity" presenters treating us as if we are all retarded, cannot string a sentence together and have the attention span of a gnat! stevmk2