The National Press

Having failed to get two Cotswold Green Pary press releases printed in our local paper - The Wilts and Glos Standard - I have been thinking about newspapers in general.  Indeed previous blogs on this site have centred on creating an alternative press and the power of the media.

I get my news from the Guardian and BBC websites and today at 9.00am the main headlines were as follows: 
The BBC website:

• Assad in Surprise visit to Moscow
• China to sign nuclear plant deal
• Canada to withdraw jets from IS battle
• Hosptials to get own savings targets
• Term-time fines 'unworkable'
• 70% in work scheme 'don't get jobs'

The Guardian website:

• XI Jinping/Nuclear deal announcement anticipated on day 2 of state visit
• Sugar tax could help solve Britain's obesity crisis, expert tells MPs
• Number of London's 'working poor' surges 70% in 10 years
• Naked 'tombstoning' advert for Hostelworld banned - as too dangerous
• Refugee boats wash up at UK military base in Cyprus
• Schools 'should be able to approve family holidays in term time'
• Tax credit cuts: Lords forced to back down as Tory rebellion grows
• Junior doctors/Seven in 10 to leave NHS if Hunt pushes through new contract
• Fears of a Christmas Lego shortage

From these two sources I felt reasonably well informed on world and national news.

I wondered what readers of other news websites would have seen at the same time so turned to - 
The Sun website:

• Singer George's rehab boost: Is he rake-in the Michael?
• Schoolboy's 'lets get naughty' lies ruined my life, says mum
• HeX Faxtor: 'Ghost' spooks Simon's team at haunted castle
• Suspected serial killer appeared on TV show
• Vaping burned a hole in my lungs
• My skin turned black after I overdosed on tanning jabs

Only after all this do we get:
Term time holiday fines for parents treble to over 50,000
Desperate GPs refuse to take new patients
Hammond: Saudis won't lash grandad

So it seems the readers were advised of the dangers of tanning parlours and taking drugs, but not much else.

Next stop The Telegraph website:

• Corbyn shakes the Queen's hand at state banquet, as UK seeks to secure £30bn Chinese Investment
• 'So unfair': World Rugby has hung referee Craig Joubert 'out to dry'
• Diamond Duchess meets Xi at the banquet - for Balmoral venison, and music by the Beatles
• Back to the Future Day
• Go teetotal to reduce dementia risks, NHS says
• Hundreds of migrants arrive in boats at Cyprus RAF base
• Worldwide Lego shortage

So a better coverage of news, but with a rightwing stance mocking Corbyn and no mention of topics embarrasing for the tories like tax credit cuts or junior doctors.

My last stop was the Daily Express website:

•  Millions face threat to retirement income after calls to slash pension payouts
•  Kate dazzles as she wears Queen Mother's old tiara to her first British State banquet
•  Horror as Christian migrant 'brutally beaten with baton in refugee camp'

I was almost impressed by the third headline, but decided to look at the article behind it and discovered it was really an anti-muslim migrant post - 'A MIGRANT was allegedly beaten inside a refugee camp in a brutal attack – for converting to Christianity.The 24-year-old was beaten with a baton by an Afghan man, who declared his conversion was a "sin", according to police.'

So to conclude, I admit I only looked at the headlines and on most occasions did not read the actual articles, but no wonder the population is so ill-informed of what goes on in the world.

We need to change this so that people can vote for political parties and policies from a sound knowledge base. This is an area where the Green Party and other progressive organisations must make a breakthrough somehow.

Local Enterprise or Wipeout

Below is a letter recently sent to Stroud News and Journal. We’re sharing it here in case you missed it.

 

Dear Ed,

While radio stations still play Jesse J telling us its not about the price tag, 'expert' in local economies, ex-Citizen editor Ian Mean, broadcasts that retail is the answer to Gloucestershire's problems. So this, he suggests, is where our shiny new Local Enterprise Partnership, an unelected quango, should concentrate its
efforts.

In another brilliant example of coalition localism, millions of tax payers' money will be handed over to these local "Dragons Den" figures, to drum up ideas for decimating our local businesses by tempting some big retail chains to build shops we don't need all over our green fields.

Having shut the libraries and youth clubs, sacked thousands of public sector workers and frozen the pay of the rest, the coalition has plenty of money to fund this, while neatly providing private profit for the banks and investors who back the Tory Party.

Sacrificing our public services and assets in exchange for pursuing the twin gods of growth and shopping, treats us like consumers who have no other way to be content except buying more stuff and promotes envy in those who can't afford to.

We have to make the best of this set up, so let's tell them we want support for existing and local businesses that deliver some real benefits that serve local people and keep their cash in the local economy. Insulating homes and installing alternative energy sources, provides jobs, reduces energy demand, improves home comfort and saves on bills. It makes far more sense than Ed's Freeze or Cameron's do nothing approach.

Regards
Gerald Hartley