Leveson inquiry into phone hacking and media standards - live

[dipsydoodle]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2011/oct/06/leveson-inquiry-phone-hacking-live

[non sociopath skin]

1. No Mail link?

:sarcasm:

The Skin

[dipsydoodle]

2. Only the Guardian was running the proceedings as they occurred

with little or no added opinion - just the facts. BBC didn't bother this time : not sure why.

When I look at online links I do look at all of them. My sole interest in The Mail is in fact in getting the Saturday print edition for my mother who just happens to prefer their TV guide. I have no other use for any of our newspapers other than lining the litter trays for my four cats - I don't buy those my neighbours give them to me.

On the subject of our printed media in general it is a simple fact of life that the political leanings of each of them are far outweighed by other factors when it comes to the public deciding which they will buy. Were that not the case and political leaning was their sole buying motive then we would only ever have a Tory government and that as you know is not the case.

With regard to online editions , for whatever reason and I don't really care anyway , The Mail remains tops for UK stuff : http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/section.asp?navcode=161 They are second in the world only to The New York Times. Their benefit from this free service seems to be advertising revenue.

:hi:

[LeftishBrit]

3. As regards your statement...

'the political leanings are far outweighed by other factors when it comes to the public deciding which they will buy' - that is likely true, but the problem isn't so much that the papers *reflect* public opinion, but that they *influence* public opinion on at least certain issues.

'(if) political leaning was their sole buying motive then we would only ever have a Tory government and that as you know is not the case.'

Thank goodness no; and that also shows that their power to influence is not unlimited. But there are certainly some elections that the Tories won, that would have probably gone differently if not for the RW media.

Also the RW tabloids are nsaty in ways that go beyond politics: their tendency to play on emotion; whip up hate against whoever is their latest target; and to invade privacy. With regard to privacy, I am not talking just about the hacking scandal, but about their probably legal but nasty tendencies to descend upon their targets and their families - and these target are as likely to be victims of accident or crime as celebrities; to pressurize and nag and bribe to get as much personal information about people as possible for the sake of 'a human interest story'.

[dipsydoodle]

4. General article here regarding influence.

Election 2010: What influence do newspapers have over voters? http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/may/03/election-2010-newspapers-influence-over-voters