What do you really know about the power of tabloids/news?

[stvdv]

What do you really know about the power of tabloids/news?

Now with Meghan and Harry going a bit public, I could clearly see how ALL tabloids suddenly made them look black. Something felt really wrong here. Brainwashing the world at large in a bad way, so I wanted to know more about this. Reading below articles it seems really bad, and I can understand that Harry and Meghan don't want to be there. But I would be surprised if it were any better in other Western countries.

I also heard Meghan say, that stories in tabloids can be "killed", but you only get this chance once in your life (was about killing a story about her father, but that she could not use that privilege for her son later in life). Wow, imagine that. First thought that comes to mind is "blackmail". If a major newspaper is friendly enough to "kill" a major story about the Royals, they have quite some leverage, for the rest of their lives it seems to me (story is not printed "yet", but of course it is somewhere stored, just in case needed)

And if there is so much manipulation with stories, how much can be trusted anyway in newspapers?

I am curious if others have some knowledge about this. And how do you view this whole ordeal with Harry and Meghan. You believe those 2 are totally innocent? Or does the truth lie in the middle? I was surprised that Meghan, after claiming to be almost dead (suicide), within a short time has plans to become president. These stories get weirder and weirder. I don't know what to believe anymore. Facts seem to be created at will, or "killed" when convenient.

* According to this article free press seems to be a bit overrated nowadays to say the least

* Harry claimed during his television interview with Oprah Winfrey that there was a “toxic environment” of “control and fear” created by the media.

* UK tabloids control England in a bad way it seems from this article

For all the storm and drama prompted by the revelations made by Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in their interview with Oprah Winfrey, too little attention has been paid to the one that is arguably of most consequence for the United Kingdom at large: allegations of racism in a large and influential section of the British press.

In their interview from self-exile, the couple claimed an “invisible” contract exists between “the Firm” — the extensive machinery of the royal family — and the British tabloid press, with the latter exercising “a level of control by fear” that resulted in the failure to provide institutional protection to Meghan.

While Harry insisted somewhat blithely that he did not believe the U.K. was itself racist, he said that racism fomented by “bigoted” tabloids was a “large part” of why the couple ultimately decided to leave the country.
xxxxHe suggested, correctly, that the tabloid culture plays a large role in stoking racism in Britain, given its outsized political and social power, saying: “If the source of information is inherently corrupt or racist, then that thought is out to the rest of society.”
xxxxThree media organs manifestly shape racial discourse in Britain: the high-circulation Daily Mail (and its sister publications, the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online), the Sun and the Daily Express. At least one broadsheet could be added to this triumvirate: the Telegraph.

 

[JustGeorge]

I don't concern myself much with their affairs.

I think its the proper thing to do; after all, they don't concern themselves much with mine! I appreciate it. To leave them to their own business seems the most appropriate thing to do.

 

[Altfish]

It was said that the only way Labour could ever win in the UK is if Murdoch backed them
Blair managed to do that in 1997

Since then we have had Murdoch's government of choice in power (and of course the Murdoch & Viscount Rothsmere supported Brexit)

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

Well, tabloids and news are not exactly the same.
But if you want to dig deep, news are at best enable to correct themselves according to somewhat close approximation of reality. The joke being what reality is, is not that simple.
So in other words it is a tall table, that some of the time seems to work in regards to what reality really is. Is that enough post-modern to you? There is more of course.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Gossip/tabloid rags have been around as long as I can remember. Like 'reality' TV, people seem to get really addicted to this stuff.

 

[Polymath257]

Yellow journalism goes back (at least) to Hearst and his promotion of the Spanish-American war.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

Gossip/tabloid rags have been around as long as I can remember. Like 'reality' TV, people seem to get really addicted to this stuff.

Yeah, I don't get it at all...

 

[stvdv]

I never would have thought that Piers Morgan had such a soft spot in his heart for Meghan (click jumps to 01:22)