This is going to be a bit of a rant, and I’ll probably wish I hadn’t written it tomorrow… BUT
I’m glad the News of the World is shutting down. I generally see the tabloid newspapers as being a physical embodiment of many of the worst aspects of human nature (and not just because I’ve been bitten by them, it long predates that). To put that in a less wordy fashion, I think the tabloids are evil. I think they serve the Enemy. And now, for one brief and no-doubt temporary moment, the bright white light of public scrutiny has been turned on to those who have caused or colluded in wickedness and we are revolted by what we see. Thank God we still have some moral substance in us.
No doubt there were good and conscientious Germans who worked hard for the Nazi regime and never personally murdered a Jew, but who were out of a job when the camps shut down. Yes, an extreme analogy, but the difference is only one of scale. Never forget that the Nazis were enabled to pursue their policies because they had first whipped up the scapegoating process, and it is precisely that evil scapegoating process that the tabloids specialise in.
So I am glad of heart. I don’t care that this will be cynically manipulated by Murdoch and that we will soon have the Sun seven days a week. For one brief moment evil has suffered a setback. Today is a good day.
Rector : “Satans newspapers responsible for holocaust !!!”
^^ Haha! Daily Mail headline if I ever saw one.
Completely agree Sam, NoW are the representation of how corrupt and utterly disgusting tabloids are. Worries me that they were the biggest selling newspaper in the UK.
Sadly, human nature, to which we are all redeemably or irredeemably still attached, will guarantee an audience for whatever emerges to fill the vacuum. After all, you’re not a (formerly) best selling paper if there’s no market for your tatty wares.
So yes, today is a good day – but it doesn’t deal with the rot at the heart of the system, into which investigations thankfully continue. There will be many knees still quaking in Wapping.
Amen. And thank God for the tireless work of Nick Davies at the Guardian, whose first story on this matter almost two years ago was laughed at by much of the mainstream press.
Completely agree Sam. I hope you don’t regret this rant tomorrow. These paper embody all that is evil and belong in the fire.
I am always dismayed at those whom I meet who are great people but still buy trash like Daily Mail…
Those interested can sign a (large and rapidly growing) petition against the BSkyB takeover and/or contact your MP to tell them to stop Murdoch taking control of BSkyB, start a Public Inquiry, led by an independent judge, and start an investigation by media regulator Ofcom into whether Murdoch is a “fit and proper” media owner.