• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Trash Journalism Is A Threat To Democracy

Some recent news items: Celebrity Big Brother contestant’s possible affair, Oscar nominee takes his clothes off, Madonna’s son seen with ‘suspicious-looking’ cigarette. This kind of trash journalism is everywhere. It clutters social media and arrogantly masquerades as socially relevant information. Every serious journalist should choke on stories about Kim Kardashian’s arse and Made in Chelsea […]

Darragh Roche by Darragh Roche
2016-02-08 12:22
in News
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

Some recent news items: Celebrity Big Brother contestant’s possible affair, Oscar nominee takes his clothes off, Madonna’s son seen with ‘suspicious-looking’ cigarette. This kind of trash journalism is everywhere. It clutters social media and arrogantly masquerades as socially relevant information. Every serious journalist should choke on stories about Kim Kardashian’s arse and Made in Chelsea break-ups. And like a neighbour who’s built a heap of rotting rubbish in his garden, pseudo-news is more than just an eyesore – it’s genuinely dangerous.

Newspapers justify these stories by saying ‘they sell papers’ and ‘we give the people what they want’. Do people want this, really? We’ve been raised to believe we should find celebrity gossip interesting. From the time we can pick up a magazine and look at the pictures, we’re surrounded by trash news. Modern media is a propagandist’s wet dream. An endless stream of loud, pervasive media tells us what kind of information we want to consume. Constant bombardment and psychological trickery have moulded an audience into what powerful media want it to be – obsessed with celebrities, poorly informed and easily distracted from real problems.

The weakness of individual trash news stories is obvious from their brief half-life. A photo of a celebrity smoking weed today will be forgotten tomorrow, so there must be a constant stream of effluvia to satisfy the need that rubbish media has created. Today people have constant access to almost limitless media, making the artificial demand for trash hard to maintain. The response has three facets: first, inflating otherwise boring stories through clickbaiting, disingenuous rhetorical questions in headlines etc., second, creating a new class of sub-celebrities, like talent show contestants and undistinguished relatives of other famous people (see the Kardashians) and finally,   putting a trashy spin on non-trash stories (what people are tweeting about news stories).

So where’s the harm? Isn’t it all just in good fun? If you think the press should be a check on government and a way to keep people informed, the rise of trash news should worry you. Average citizens may find real news boring, but that has a lot to do with decades of polluting news sources with distractions. It should surprise no-one that the worst peddlars of pseudo-news are often pushing a worrying agenda with their real journalism. Right-wing tabloids titilate their readers with gossipy garbage on one page and scaremonger about immigrants on the next. It’s a classic bait and switch that harms peoples’ ability to engage with real issues.

The philosopher John Rawls once asked how we would create a society if we could start from scratch without knowing if we’d be born rich or poor, healthy or sick. Rawls believed most reasonable people would create the fairest possible society. If we apply that test to media, if we could create a news environment from scratch, would we choose what we have now? Would we insist on millions of words every week about celebrity beach bodies and viral articles on boyband feuds? I don’t think so. If we had to design a free press to hold politicians to account, reveal hidden abuses and help us choose how to vote, today’s media would look like a monstrous abberation.

One last argument in defence of trash journalism is the market one – it makes money. It’s impossible to deny that. But the market exists to serve people’s needs. When capitalism harms something essential to democracy, we call that corruption. If big companies paid voters to stay at home on election day, we would loudly condemn it, though preventing certain politicians from winning could prove profitable. Cheapening journalism because it makes money is immoral. Creating a culture where information is choked by irrelevant nonsense prevents unsuspecting voters from using their rights to improve their lives. How many working class voters will notice neo-liberal doublespeak while they’re speculating about Rear of the Year and worrying about non-existent jihadi toddlers?

RelatedPosts

‘Hot to the touch’: Tragedy as the bodies of 46 migrants found in lorry trailer in southern Texas

Union boss changes Facebook profile pic ahead of Piers Morgan interview

Support for strikes GOING UP – new polling reveals

Flashback: To when disgruntled brewery workers took matters into their own hands

Please login to join discussion

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

Russia is sending similar messages to Ukrainians as Nazis were sending to Soviets, fact-checker says

Investment companies roundup – August 2019

Johnson: The best Mother’s Day present is to stay away

How To Make: Pied à Terre’s Apricot Greek Milk Pie

Study confirms light smokers more at risk than heavy smokers who quit

Boris Johnson’s record as Foreign Secretary should have us all worried

About time? Dido Harding to step down from NHS Improvement role later this year

Second-home in Cornwall hit with graffiti – as frustration grows at lack of affordable housing for locals

EuroMillions Results for Tuesday 5 April 2022 Tonight’s winning numbers

Brexit forces 7,500 jobs and £1.2 trillion out of London

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.