Book Review: The News Gap – When the Information Preferences of the Media and the Public Diverge – Svenja Ottovordemgentschenfelde
Well, now. Where to start?
We all know there is a gap between the news we’re allowed to read/see at the moment and the news we need to know about. My concern is that this is politically-motivated and it seems this is not well covered in the article. If it isn’t covered in the book, that’s a real shame, because it is seriously affecting the way people think.
For example: David Cameron knows he can’t win an election without keeping Rupert Murdoch’s news empire on his side; that’s why he has bent over backwards to be Rupert’s puppy. Conversely, the BBC has its Royal Charter coming up for renewal soon, and fears what the Tories will do – so IT is bending over backwards to be Cameron’s puppy.
Result: The vast majority of news in the UK is slanted in favour of the Conservative Party, no matter whether that organisation’s policies are right or wrong. And we haven’t even discussed the output of the Daily Mail or Daily Telegraph yet!
I think you are making the right points Mike. Recognising that journalists are struggling to compete with social media and new technology is actually missing the real point, which is that what the media are telling us is just one side of the story, heavily edited and ‘spun’. It isn’t so much about who gets the story out quickest, it is the fact that the MSM are not telling us the truth that is the big issue.