The fiction department

Four Russian fighter jets violate Swedish airspace, Putin

Four Russian fighter jets violate Swedish airspace

DESPITE MSM anti-Russian rhetoric, 70 per cent of people back Russia in its war against ISIS

JOURNALISTS and columnists spin news with intent to influence public opinion.  That is not news, but boundaries are crossed when fiction is peddled as hard news. In early October a front page story claimed, ‘Russian jet shot down by Turkish forces.’  It was a lengthy illustrated news story but the only true words; ‘NATO had received no reports.’

The story was not even speculative; it was fiction no more credible than Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Western mainstream media has surrendered any pretence at objective reporting.  Spin has been replaced by propaganda and blatant falsehoods. 

They’re worded clever; ‘MH17 was brought down by a Russian made missile’ with obvious inference of Russian being to blame. Failed state Ukraine uses Russian made missiles; thousands in the Middle East have been slaughtered by British-made weapons. 

Predictably, most people now harvest information from the internet or non-Western sources.  What needs to be brought home to readers is that many journalists are directly or indirectly proxies of government or special interest quangos. It is not a new phenomenon.  Journalism has always been infiltrated. 

There are MSM tricks that put you on your guard.  By learning them you become better informed and it can be an amusing pastime. If the message is set between ‘inverted commas’ it is speculation not fact.

Returning to the downed Russian jet story it leads with the startling revelation that, ‘according to unconfirmed reports on social media.’  So, apparently this is where Britain’s biggest selling tabloid gets its front page stories from, Facebook. Now, that is not good news.

Another MSM ruse is, ‘it has been claimed.’ This is reporter-speak for ‘I am clueless but here is my spin on it.’

The source of a story is either undisclosed or ambiguous. ‘The information was given on a guarantee of anonymity.’ An alternative is, ‘US officials said this week.’  There are millions of US officials; may we at least have a department?  Watch out for ‘one journalist tweeted.’ Which journalist?

There is good news; despite MSM anti-Russian rhetoric, 70 per cent of people back Russia in its war against ISIS.

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Comments


    • Mao Cheng Ji

      26 October 2015 • 17:42

      Great, thanks for that, Mike.

      In fact, that “Russian-made missile” you read about in every mainstream media source may not even be Russian-made; it could very well be Soviet-made. And the Dutch report they’re supposedly quoting doesn’t call it “Russian-made”. It’s a complete fiction, a lie.

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