Who should we bin government or media?
Poll: Who should we bin government or media?
Total Members Polled: 69
Discussion
In one corner we have our leaders and i stick CMD in this lot a bunch of sound bite wishy washy media friendly idiots
In the other corner we have our half brained sound bite spouting panic spouting media who have the attention span of a 2 year old have a tantrum. Remember swine flu anyone?
So which lot should we stick in the bin never to be seen again?
I vote the media
In the other corner we have our half brained sound bite spouting panic spouting media who have the attention span of a 2 year old have a tantrum. Remember swine flu anyone?
So which lot should we stick in the bin never to be seen again?
I vote the media
Now don't have nightmares.. We get the government we have because they are media relations men first, politicians second.
Look at Brown. Brown is a politician. Maybe not a great one, but primarily a political man. See the mauling he gets in the papers for not having a photogenic face and a press statement for everything.
Cameron is a media man. As a result, he gets what amounts pretty much to a free ride in comparison. I actually think what he's done is pretty clever - you keep as many old-school political men and women around as you like, but you make damn well sure the bloke at the top is all smiles and soundbites. As much an admirer of that aspect of Blairism, as Blair was in thrall of Thatcherism.
That's what his apology was about this morning. It means nothing; if it meant something then his MPs wouldn't have been claiming questionable expenses in the first place - but it does end up with him in charge of the story, playing the media's need to have a hero and a villain for everything it's worth.
The media hold a lot of sway on perceptions. That means if they've got a downer on Brown, then the public have a downer on Brown. Now that may well be justified, but you can bet if Labour go down, it won't be what they've done, but what the popular press have started to say they've done.
If we didn't have the media we have today, all instant gratification and shock value, heroes and villains, then we wouldn't have these people in power.
Look at Brown. Brown is a politician. Maybe not a great one, but primarily a political man. See the mauling he gets in the papers for not having a photogenic face and a press statement for everything.
Cameron is a media man. As a result, he gets what amounts pretty much to a free ride in comparison. I actually think what he's done is pretty clever - you keep as many old-school political men and women around as you like, but you make damn well sure the bloke at the top is all smiles and soundbites. As much an admirer of that aspect of Blairism, as Blair was in thrall of Thatcherism.
That's what his apology was about this morning. It means nothing; if it meant something then his MPs wouldn't have been claiming questionable expenses in the first place - but it does end up with him in charge of the story, playing the media's need to have a hero and a villain for everything it's worth.
The media hold a lot of sway on perceptions. That means if they've got a downer on Brown, then the public have a downer on Brown. Now that may well be justified, but you can bet if Labour go down, it won't be what they've done, but what the popular press have started to say they've done.
If we didn't have the media we have today, all instant gratification and shock value, heroes and villains, then we wouldn't have these people in power.
V8mate said:
glazbagun said:
Media. We can still, technically, vote our government in and out. But we have little control over the media.
We have a much more powerful vote - we can stop buying their papers. Potentially we could kill a paper within a week.(Admittedly, it's harder with TV media)
Timberwolf said:
Cameron is a media man. As a result, he gets what amounts pretty much to a free ride in comparison. I actually think what he's done is pretty clever - you keep as many old-school political men and women around as you like, but you make damn well sure the bloke at the top is all smiles and soundbites. As much an admirer of that aspect of Blairism, as Blair was in thrall of Thatcherism.
I want what your having.Are you seriously suggesting that the Tories have had an easy ride from the press? Maybe they are now, but since about 79 the press have had it in for the Tories. You only need to watch the tv stuff over the last 12 years to see Labour politicians given an easy time every single time, whether its the Politics Show on a Sunday morning, C4 News in the evening, Question Time, BBC News, not forgetting supposedly bi partisan interviewers like John Seargent and Andrew Marr. Isn't Preston another journo aligned with the Labour Party? And who can forget John Snow who positively licks the shoes of any left wing politician - or do we forget how he was given private briefings by the Labour Party in the run up to the 97 election.
tinman0 said:
Are you seriously suggesting that the Tories have had an easy ride from the press? Maybe they are now
This is exactly what I'm saying. (Hence the present tense.)Cameron was a very good appointment for leader of the opposition, given the modern media. It's taken a while for him to build up to this point - and Brown has helped, practically handing it to him on a plate - but it's there now.
Edited by Timberwolf on Monday 11th May 22:55
Timberwolf said:
tinman0 said:
Are you seriously suggesting that the Tories have had an easy ride from the press? Maybe they are now
This is exactly what I'm saying. (Hence the present tense.)Cameron was a very good appointment for leader of the opposition, given the modern media. It's taken a while for him to build up to this point - and Brown has helped, practically handing it to him on a plate - but it's there now.
Strange isn't it that the highly paid media is now being nice to the opposition after their tax rate went to 50%. Who'd a thought?
Timberwolf said:
Labour should have seen that a mile off. You kick the newspaper editors, you get an unfriendly press!
Newspaper editors? I'm thinking BBC news presenters!Can't see Paxman exactly happy interviewing a Labour crony on the day he found out that they had just cost him the best part of a £150k for the coming year! The irony is quite delicious.
s2art said:
Timberwolf said:
As much an admirer of that aspect of Blairism, as Blair was in thrall of Thatcherism.
LOL! As if Bliar had anything to do with Thatcherism, or did anything that bore any resemblance to it. Cameron is further from Thatcher than Blair.
deadslow said:
s2art said:
Timberwolf said:
As much an admirer of that aspect of Blairism, as Blair was in thrall of Thatcherism.
LOL! As if Bliar had anything to do with Thatcherism, or did anything that bore any resemblance to it. The Labour Party worked out in the 90s that high taxation was unpopular, so they ditched it. And thats about all they ditched.
Under Blair, they created thousands of laws, brought in plenty of laws bringing state control even further into peoples live, created an even bigger nanny state, employed hundreds of thousands of civil service posts, increased taxation on companies, increased taxation by way of stealth taxes, created flawed systems like SORN, started charging for many many things that used to be free (like V5s), increased the cost of passports by huge amounts, increased taxes on fuels.
And famously, brought in AntI Terrorism Laws that got an 80 year old Labour Party member arrested! Made protests around Parliament illegal...
The list goes on, and then someone says "yeah, but they are centre right".
Don't be daft. They are as left wing as they were in 70s. Only the foolish would ever think they stand on the right on anything.
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