Where the media gets its info. ?

[j.sabourn]

Some time ago I mentioned the lack of outrage coming from the climate brigade about the war in the Ukraine causing poisonous gasses and other foreign bodies in the atmosphere and thus affecting weather. Today i notice our enterprising gatherers of the news sometimes maybe true or false , have picked up a similar topic re the war in Israel. And now preaching the obvious which has been ongoing ever since Russia took its police action against the Ukraine. Seems we have poachers on site looking for obvious to intelligent people the results of large bangs and weapons of destruction. They fail to surprise me on their lack of knowledge. This story will no doubt grow now in our expensive tabloids. JS

[happy daze john in oz]

It has
First report stated some 16,000 tons of Co2 from war in Gaza from weapons.
Latest says closer to twice that amount.
From two different reporters on different sites.

[Dennis Billaney]

Where does the media get its info?

Hmm, I think that also depends on the timeframe in question. I grew up listening to the radio while eating breakfast before going to school. I remember hearing things in the news like “there was a massive earthquake in some place”, and after a bit of background information they’d then say “we’re now switching to our foreign correspondent who is reporting live from X”. If that was true, then that would what I think could be called firsthand information, whether they had the full or correct info is another matter. But at least you heard someone talking about something they are apparently looking at, watching in real time, right now, on the ground where things are happening.

Years later as a teenager working part time jobs, I managed to get a well paid slot, working nightshifts in the newspaper printing factory. Nightshift paid double, overtime started after 6hrs on the job, weekends added another 100%, so easy way to make a lot of cash. After having proved myself, they occasionally assigned me to other tasks. Finally, I was asked if I’d be willing to help out nightshifts during Christmas New Year days, working at the headquarter where the heart of the business and real action was going on. My job was simple, follow a list, lock or unlock doors at specific times, switch off lights, shut windows and so on.

I recall my first shift as if it happened yesterday. The bloke who introduced me and showed me around the first night suddenly said, now we’re going to the main editorial area to clean up there. It was my first time to see that place and all I knew was that they called it the “ship” because it was somewhat designed like the deck of a sailing “boat”.

The first thing I noticed was the huge banner above the main counter. It wrote “Good News Is No News – Bad News Is Good News”.
From my experience working at the printing factory, I knew that things like let’s say job postings, the cultural section, weather forecasts and other types of content which could be completed ahead or wasn’t that important and couldn’t be impacted by last minute occasions, would normally be submitted between 17.00-21.00 and get printed and loaded onto those huge rolls.

Other things, depending on and whatever it would be, like waiting for the results of the Champions League Final or another sort of Global Event, those were the stressful days. Deadline to print the frontpage was 23.00, or it would not be possible to start delivery of the paper the next morning on time!

That’s when I lost all respect for what I believed was a real state of the art and to be trusted Media Establishment. I was so dumb and truly believed that those people who decide what the headline will be, are somehow on the phone and speaking to all sorts of sources, journalists and contact they have around the world.

What I fool I was, imagining noisy hectic scenes with all sorts of people running around like crazy. Nothing could be further from the truth than that!
On average there would be no more than half a dozen guys smoking cigs in front of a dozen or so TV screens, simply watching CNN, BBC, Euronews and what have you, looking at the clock, and if nothing major happened until 23.00, they hit the submit button and knocked off.

Another personal experience I had which made me wonder about how reliable or complete the information broadcasted around the world really is, was the 1997 Hong Kong Handover. At the time of the actual Handover I was in Saigon, going back and forth between there, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Back then it was very difficult to make calls in or out of Vietnam. So I would use one or two of the big hotels where they had a fax, there I’d either send out messages or check by every now and then to see if there was any messages for me.

Anyway, around a week or two after the handover, I was sitting in a Cathay Pacific flight on the way to Kai Tak airport. I used to stay at a local HKG friends place who also had a fax. As I arrived he told me my father was desperately trying to reach me. Due to time difference and being a bit hungry, after I came back from a nice dinner and a few beers, I called my parents (I was 20yrs at the time).

Right away he panicked off asking me where I was, adding DO NOT GO TO HONG KONG! I laughed and joked, sorry dad, too late, I’m in HKG, all good here, no worries!

He insisted I should dash to the airport right away and get on the next plane out before it’s too late! He said I’m watching CNN and Chinese tanks are pouring over the boarder!

That puzzled me a bit and I told him, ok, take it easy, I’m with my friends, next door of us was even a Brit who was married to a local lady, so I told him I will go see him and then “make an escape” together with him.

So I went knocking on door of that Brit and told him what my father just said. He just laughed and said, yeah yeah, it’s true, the Chinese have sent around 300 tanks or armored vehicles, along with about 3’000 troops. But CNN forgot to mention that they’re having a hard time filling up the vacuum the British Forces left when they pulled out their 20’000 troops and other staff they had stationed here.

I could go on and on with similar examples and I’m sure everyone here could do so too.

Bottom line is, for me, I don’t expect the media to be providing me with reliable information that I can blindly follow or believe. That’s an illusion. At the same time I think it would be ill advised to ignore the media. Thanks to today’s internet and accessibility of all sorts of information, it is the responsibility of each and everyone to read, then compare and gather info from all sorts and counter parts. At least it lets you know that something is going on. What you make of it, how you react or maybe prepare, that is up to everyone for themselves.

While I consider most media outlets biased in one way or another (forget about the media where I’m living…), I always like to think and keep the following saying in mind “behind every lie is a grain of truth”, believe nothing you hear and only half you see, then you’re getting closer to the truth.

Finally, in my book, yes, the media is a bit of a problem, but the real problem is the audience who is addicted and eager to be fed with ever more irrelevant rubbish!

I wonder why people can be bothered reading some “fact checking” report where “experts” share their findings and calculations comparing the volcanic emissions in Iceland VS the CO2 output the IDF bombing of Gaza has caused. Not sure, but my guess in both cases would be that CO2 might be the least harming “byproduct” released that one might want to be worried about. Forgetting to even mention all the sulfur dioxide a volcano releases and when it comes to ordonnances dropped by the IDF, I rather assumed we’d be hearing about how they contaminated and turned Gaza into a radioactive wasteland by dropping thousands of uranium depleted shells and 2’000 pound dumb bombs. Or maybe I got it wrong, since CO2 would mean a global problem, while radioactive rubble is regional issue, limited to that specific area nobody cared about for the past half century.

[Johnny Kieran]

I remember sitting out in the sun, waiting for my Mrs to do her shopping. Nearby were two guy's, one with a mike, the other with a camera. They were stopping people to ask their opinion on a local event. As people were asked a question, the guy would cut it short and interview another. This went on for some time, until a lady answered the way they seemed to want, and she was given the chance to give her opinion. During the time I sat there, only two ladies were interviewed, out of about fifty people stopped. I even got up and asked them what it was all about. Then he asked me what I thought, but I gave the wrong answer. Anyway, that night on the six o'clock news, they gave out that everyone was very supportive of the question asked and showed the two ladies being interviewed. I was clearly visible in the background, sitting there bored stiff.

[j.sabourn]

Johnny I know first hand what the media are like and have recorded my opinions on here already. But for future generations I have recorded and placed in safe hands where they can’t just expunge. This goes back to 1988 where they tried to make me a person of interest for the wrong reasons , so I was on my guard and had a written statement in answer to their public questioning on camera. They refused to accept so I walked away and never spoke to them again for 20 years. Just refused point blank. Their answer to my refusal to speak to them was to publish in paper I did not check ship before I sailed, I retain all these so called exposures by our half witted media this also with my remarks when I can’t speak for myself. In 2018 I spoke to a police officer 30 years after the incident and his views were similar , his biggest task was keeping the media out of the temporary morgue set up at Dyce airport for all the cadavers stored there who they continuously tried to photograph . Ghouls is what among many other things is the title I would give them. JS

[j.sabourn]

#3 similar to what you say about reporting supposedly from the area of happening..I through circumstance beyond my control are forced to use a local taxi service so last Sunday Phoned them up to order a taxi for the Monday morning . Was answered by the usual voice who said where are you going ? I said it’s just local and the taxi driver will know , he then said all well and good but I am in Melbourne. Unknown to me but now know that the taxi controller for all Perth taxis is over a thousand kilometres away in Melbourne. It now deters me from being so quick to ring for a cab. The same applies to your reporters for a lot of the well known papers the news for catastrophies will come from the nearest news hawk who will use local hearsay as he sees it and probably he is probably the same distance from the scene of events as my taxi controller. The old saying I’ve passed more good reporters than you’ll ever know and the reply then pass a few more we are short handed applies. As for background scenery that can be put in at anytime and if have ever been interviewed will already know that. JS

[j.sabourn]

Distance from Perth to Melbourne is actually over 3000 kilometres JS

[Richard Keith Roberts]

With the news, the reporters collect and pass there results on to their editors, where the manipulation hatches. In my early days I have been to watch football games and followed up with a read in the Sunday papers only to find that I must have been to another game as what I saw did not totally agreed with the report.So with that in mind, what else was changed.
We find here in Australia also Britain and the US that one family completely monopolise news media on tv and papers. It is well documented that editors follow the company's point of view.
You can follow this on the tv news interviews where an opposition spokes person is asked loaded questions deliberately to rubbish his opposite number.
So the owners of the news outlets insist on having their views championed.

[j.sabourn]

This is why I ignore reams of so called news transferred from google to this site. If gullible enough to want to believe would just google it myself in the first place. However the media has now and has decided if they cant sell newspapers they hold a carrot out to readers of news on different stories so the reader has to pay to get to read a lot of guff on the internet. I find today reading newspapers the free ones are good enough for what I want to know. The ones about Harry and his film star wife I consider rubbish at the best of times and wouldn’t pay a tosser for what has no interest to me whatsoever. Someone’s else dirty laundry is not my cup of tea. The scandal sheets only survive because occasionally they catch someone bending over at an in opportune moment. JS

[happy daze john in oz]

The media thrives with such outlets as fakebook and others, if it is on there it must be true.

Currently the Australian Tennis Open is taking place here in Melbourne.

The papers are full of Djokovic saying he will win his 11th Oz open this year.
Thye even put up a list of his past wins here including one for 2020.
That is fine but that year he was deported before the tournament even went ahead as he refused to be vaccinated.

But the media will continue to say his 11th is coming up.
The same media say Federer never won a French open, not true he did the one year Raffa was not playing, had a foot op.

Sad thing is it becomes ingrained in the minds of the people and nothing will change their thinking.