h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Another aspect of media bias is surely the increasing control of the UK Government on the media. A very quick example can be found watching the news on the BBC in the early hours of the morning. I have lost count of the number of times seemingly big breaking stories at 3 am have disappeared or totally changed direction by the daytime news programmes. Did you know that there is a tax on spectacles? At the last budget, a £10.00 tax on every pair of new spectacles was passed. This was discussed at 4am on BBC News24 by some very irate opticians. However, I have not heard a word of it since.

However, maybe this posting will be censored. That reminds me of Spike Milligan trying to tell his mum where he was in a letter from the front without raising the suspicions of the censor. If I remember right it went something like .... "Dear Mum, (Spaghetti). I am well, how are you(Spaghetti). I can't say where I am, (Spaghetti), but the sky is tall enough to stand up in without bumping your head, (Spaghetti). ....... or something like that.

I'm very much in agreement with this posting. I can't think of any specific examples at the minute, but I have certainly noticed the same thing on BBC News 24. It does tend to be late at night/early hours. I may be an old cynic, but it does make you wonder if more gets reported when a lot of the 'Official Censors' are tucked up in their beds.

We get a lot of the oppisite in the US... the media controlling the Governement... This may sound OK... until you realize that "the media" is Ted Turner and the guests on Jerry Springer....

I sometimes wonder about how much truth is in our news. During the war with Bosnia, us in England were getting a version of events. How different would this account have been if we were Serbians or Bosnians. Would the Serbian national news have portrayed their 'defeats' in the language of losers? I think not. In fact, during the Gulf war, the pictures going out to the Iraquis were vastly different to the ones we were receiving. Television and the rest of the media seem to tailor stories to suit themselves. So the question is 'Where can I find accurate information about the situation without a political (or otherwise) bias?' I'm not sure if I can.

Even if you see it with your own eyes... it will have YOUR political bias...

Hi

Just another one I heard in the pub tonight. Another early hours news story referring to the Queen's bedroom being broken into (The only place you can get a drink at this time of night incident).
Early hours reports said a bottle of South African wine was being drunk. The reference to South Africa was never mentioned again. This was at a time when we had sanctions against South Africa.
What is the answer? Make your own mind up yourself from as much information you care to read(etc) and live your life as you want.
By the way Yorkshire YCC are county champions, Guess where I'm from!
Byee

Thankyou Will of God for understanding that everyone sees things differently. That was the point I was trying to make. Everybody will see a situation with a difference. Viewpoint A will always be different to viewpoint B.

I feel the main form of censorship is the media indifference to global matters unless they provide "good TV" pictures.
The media in Germany provied better world news than our media.

I cannot judge on the political bias as my German is not up to this, my fault not thiers.

During the Gulf War, one of the most interesting slants was that Iraq, a third world country with a large but poorly-equipped army, suddenly became some sort of superpower that was going to be a real problem to defeat. The main point put across was the size of the Iraqi army. This is largely irrelevant, in modern warfare, the quality of the equipment is the important aspect as is the battlefield. The Iraqis were equipped with antiquated Soviet hardware and the battle was fought in the desert, an ideal battleground as there is nowhere to hide. The Allied win was inevitable, but by feeding the media nonsense about the tough fight ahead of them, the (surprise) overwhelming Allied victory was made to look like an example of invincibility.

Call me a conspiracy theorist but anyone remember that when Princess Diana was in the carcrash, BBC news at about 2am reported that she was in hospital, stable and had been visited by the British Ambassador to France. I fell asleep and when I woke up she had been "killed in a car crash".

Actually my eldest was awake most of that night (he was only a baby) and I do remember seeing the bulletin on news24 that she had been involved in a car accident. When my child woke me again at 6 I was shocked to hear that she had died. Then came out the conspiracy theories. Here's a conspiracy. What on earth possessed two normally sensible people to get into a car with a bloke driving who had clearly been drinking?
But this is getting off the subject. I read last week in one of my text books (like the bible, it has to be true. sarcasm, sarcasm) that there are create your own biased newspaper programs on the net. I say biased because my political slant is different to almost anyone else's.