Newspapers are well and truly f'ed
Stole that "f'ed" from Jeff Jarvis who was employing it to comment on the fact that US newspaper ad revenues last year had their worst drop in almost 60 years. But there's another reason that the papers are fecked and it's that they are increasingly untrustworthy. Worse, as they abandon truth for aggressive fantasy, they are becoming ever more injurious to those they write about. The most recent example was provided by the Los Angeles Times, which formally apologized on Thursday for an article that purported to link Sean "Diddy" Combs to a 1994 attack on rap star Tupac Shakur. The story "was partially based on documents that appear to have been fabricated" weaselled the once-believable paper.
Here's another example from this growing hall of shame. It's the Guardian, which is now tainted beyond repair by its support for all kinds of anti-Western bigots. 'Ashamed' Navratilova regains Czech nationality went the headline on 11 March, and here is the tennis star replying on 25 March by way of the Huffington Post: "My Dual Citizenship: Why Did the Media Get It So Wrong?" Martina Navratilova concludes her post by musing upon the abusive power of the press. "Sometimes, they don't let facts get in the way of their story. And that is a shame." If you think those examples are bad, consider this appalling admission.
The Daily Express today takes the unprecedented step of making a front-page apology to Kate and Gerry McCann. We do so because we accept that a number of articles in the newspaper have suggested that the couple caused the death of their missing daughter Madeleine and then covered it up.
The reckless pursuit of profit with lies that led to that confession of dishonesty produced this equally shameful pronouncement of insincere regret:
The Daily Star today makes a wholehearted apology to Kate and Gerry McCann for stories suggesting the couple were responsible for, or may be responsible for, the death of their daughter Madeleine and for covering it up.
Both costly apologies ended with the exact-same wording: "Please note that, for legal reasons, we have disabled reader comments on this article". Not only liars, but cowards and hypocrites as well! With the old business model of newspaper trade — delivering shoppers to marketers via advertising — entering end times, it cannot be in the interests of those left making papers to insult their retreating consumers. Yet, this is what they seem to excel at now. A death wish? Here's a poignant pre-obit. Fecked.
