Hitting the Headlines

by Rab Bruce’s Spider

 

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In these days of AI-generated misinformation, it’s often hard to tell whether a news story has any foundation in fact. To be fair, even following supposedly reputable news outlets can often leave you misinformed. However, I still check my RSS newsfeed app every day, browsing through headlines from a variety of mainstream media outlets, alternative media organisations and even a few bloggers. I do try to get a variety of perspectives, which means I am often confronted with a right wing view of a story. And some of them are so barking mad I often wonder whether AI is responsible.

 

This morning, for example, I picked up on a few interpretations of news which left me shaking my head in despair. I think it is only fair that I spread some of the gloom around, if only to make me feel better. My apologies to anyone who is actually paying attention to what is happening in the world.

 

The first one which caught my eye was a headline and summary which stated that Tony Blair, viewed by some people as a war criminal, has blasted Sir Keir (Knight of the Realm) Starmer for not being right wing enough, and advising him to cosy up to Trump a lot more. I’m sorry? What? Sir Keir is probably the most openly right wing Labour PM we’ve ever seen, and as for cosying up to Trump, I can’t help thinking that Mr Blair is rather out of tune with the bulk of public opinion.

 

Then I stumbled across one of the really weird articles which insisted that the UK’s minimum wage is too high, and this is what is causing the UK’s economic woes. Just think about that for a second or two. When workers need to have more than one job, or rely on social security to top up their meagre incomes in the face of ever-spiralling prices, some people think that the problem is that the lowest-paid are being paid too much. Yes, I know Nigel Farage’s Reform plc want to cut minimum wage, but to have this seriously proposed in the news is just plain daft. As usual, there is no thought given to the possibility that the problem with the UK economy is that most people aren’t being paid enough, and that those at the top are creaming off far too much money. Still, punishing the poor is, I suppose, a fairly mainstream economic and political view these days. It’s certainly the view which most media owners promote, and anyone who dares to point out the inherent flaw is usually either castigated or denied access to mass media.

 

Then there is the Peter Murrell story. BBC Scotland has been revelling in this for days now, with over half of the articles in my RSS newsfeed having his name in the headline the other day. Still, what can you expect from the UK State’s propaganda outlet? But I found another article from another news source which was advertising a podcast where the topic was whether paying MPs more would prevent the sort of embezzlement Mr Murrell has admitted to. Where to begin with this misinformed drivel? The author seemed blissfully unaware that Mr Murrell was not a politician and that he was based in Scotland, so increasing a Westminster MP’s pay would have made no difference to his particular case. Unfortunately, some media commentators based outside Scotland seem unable to grasp these basic facts. It may also be worth pointing out that, while precise details of Mr Murrell’s salary are not always available, it seems that he earned considerably more than the majority of MSP’s in Holyrood, and probably at least as much as most Westminster MPs. The problem was that, for some people, incomes which most people can only dream of will never bee enough to satisfy their desire for more. I’m fairly sure that even doubling an MPs pay would not prevent some people finding ways, either legal or illegal, to squeeze yet more out of the system.

 

Where does this leave us in terms of trusting the media? Probably where many of us have been for the past few years. There are still some excellent investigative reporters out there, but their voices are often drowned out by the deluge of right wing articles the UK media loves so much.

 

As ever, I recommend getting your news from a variety of sources, but always remember that most of the outlets have an agenda of some sort, and they are trying to bring you round to their point of view. Some are more blatant about this than others, and that is where a lot of the danger lies for the general public. When it comes to TV News in particular, I stick by the mantra, “Do not trust the BBC”.