Fake news - is there any other anymore?

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Several decades ago, there actually was real news which people would access via ABC, NBC, or CBS on television, and in PRINT in their local newspapers.   The fake news was pretty much limited to "The National Enquirer" sold at the checkouts of supermarkets.  The Enquirer perfected the art of cherry picking news stories and celebrities and writing up fictionalized / sensationalized versions of the stories - complete with doctored images. 

Then, cable TV exploded, and instead of just 3 tv news outlets with a half hour of real news per night.. you have a deluge of TV news running 24 hours a day.  Hmm.. how do you fill 24 hours of news broadcasting when you used to only have half an hour.. and also compete with a dozen other 24 hour news services?  I suppose that would force them to embellish the real news quite a bit, and dredge up stories and CREATE news, and comment on the news, rather than just report the news.   What a disaster!

As far as newspapers go.. it used to be that practically everybody had a subscription to their local newspaper, and actually read it.   Now, only a small fraction of people subscribe to their local newspaper, and even those that do rarely read it, and why should they when they have all the news that is the news - and isn't the news - running 24/7? 

This is not unlike the situation in England, in which the infamous "Fleet Street" has been inundated with competing "news" periodicals for a LONG LONG time.  They compete by having the most salacious and outrageous headlines.  Truth is too boring.. so forget about that.   They even put blatant topless photos of women in their newspapers and make no apologies for it.   Why anybody would want to look at naked women is beyond my comprehension, but apparently some people like that. 

So, news is dead.  That requires people to actually turn their brains on and filter out the fake news from the real news.   Unfortunately, most people are not capable of doing that! 

There really should be laws, that are enforced, about publishing or broadcasting lies.   There are laws that cover libel, defamation, and slander.. but those laws are almost never enforced.  It's like speed limit laws which are rarely enforced.  Since virtually everybody drives well over the speed limit, those laws mean little or nothing.   Unless you are going at least 20% over the speed limit in a residential area, the odds of getting a speeding ticket are very low.  If they ever started enforcing the libel, defamation, slander laws,   they would have to build 10 times as many jails and courts.   Unless a crime is CRIMINAL, you can't get anything done unless you have deep pockets and go hire a lawyer to waste his time trying to sue someone in a civil matter. 

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In the UK, the BBC is self regulating in all things.    Media laws made by parliament don't affect the BBC.    Parliament has virtually no powers over the BBC except "TV tax" rates. 

The rest of the media is broken up into their groups; ie TV new, newspapers, etc.     Except as above, there are laws that govern truth and non partisanship in the media. 

I don't know if this applies to cable TV or just normal TV. 

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In the UK, the BBC is self regulating in all things.    Media laws made by parliament don't affect the BBC.    Parliament has virtually no powers over the BBC except "TV tax" rates.  

The rest of the media is broken up into their groups; ie TV new, newspapers, etc.     Except as above, there are laws that govern truth and non partisanship in the media.  

I don't know if this applies to cable TV or just normal TV.  

Those UK TV taxes scared me... they have trucks that detect if you have a TV and they can come in and search for it and fine you, etc.  It's like having an automatic search warrant.    I wonder what happens if they come in looking for a TV.. and find a bag of heroin on the table?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4v-qJBOoPo

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If you're a drug dealer or making a skin suit so you can dress up as your mother, pay your TV tax. 

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If you're a drug dealer or making a skin suit so you can dress up as your mother, pay your TV tax.  

https://youtu.be/JonKpMy5iDM?t=32

No guns with those pigs!   
My favorite line was "Take that tit off your head!"

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The BBC is regulated by Ofcom

The BBC has to comply with the usual media laws like libel and obscenity.

Newspapers do NOT have to be non-partisan; broadcasting (BBC TV and radio and independent stations whether via aerial or cable) does.

Parliament doesn't set the licence fee, the government does.

TV Licensing (the collection organisation for the licence fee) has no automatic right to search. No-one need allow them into their home without a search warrant. Indeed no-one need reply to their letters. And if they do call no-one need talk to them. The onus is on them to prove you were receiving TV (whether via a television or online)

London is known as the 'libel capital' of the world

A crime, by definition, is criminal. Libel and defamation are civil matters.

But I know you guys aren't into facts

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Certain laws are deemed "universal" in the UK, such as libel.   There are blanket bans on many things that are not just limited to the media.  I can't call you a "child molester" and get away with it simply because I'm not in the media.

Why did Ofcom deflect ALL complaints about Jeremy Clarkson and Chris Moyles back to the BBC?   Both made blatantly homophobic comments, but Ofcom didn't want to know and the BBC defended those comments.    Clarkson repeatedly made racist comments and Ofcom never touched the complaints.  They referred them back to the BBC. 

Parliament votes on the new TV tax rates.    The BBC tells parliament how much it wants to increase the tax, because they always want to increase the tax.   

The TV tax people are run by the BBC itself.   They are known to lie to people, such as myself when we bought this house.   They demanded that we pay the TV tax for the people we bought the house from and sue them to get our money back.   They told us we were legally responsible for the debt, as it was based on the house, not the person. 


Except in relation to election laws (legally required to be "neutral"), the BBC is extremely partisan.      They whore themselves to the feminist agenda, they de-muslim terrorists like the Paris McDonald's killer and so on.     They are so extreme far left that even Stalin is extreme right wing to them.   

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I see.   You got me on a technicality.     

The rules for the BBC changed a few months ago.   

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The BBC tells parliament how much it wants to increase the tax, because they always want to increase the tax. 

The BBC negotiates with the government, not parliament.

The TV tax people are run by the BBC itself

Indeed but there is no legal requirement to have any contact with TV Licensing. Just ignore them, especially if you don't need a licence.

I see.   You got me on a technicality.     

Ah, yes that old technicality ruse. What the rest of us call facts 

PS You can, and have, called me lots of the things and you can get away with it because you are a moderator

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What I said about the BBC was true, until a few months ago.   

Let's hope Ofcom isn't as completely useless at dealing with complaints as the BBC was. 

PS You can, and have, called me lots of the things and you can get away with it because you are a moderator.

If you want to get into your history on this site and why you were banned under your old account, we can. 

I will tell you that except one person (not you), I have never banned a person without asking the opinion of all the staff first.