,
4 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
Outstanding article by the excellent @helenlewis, on the populist trashing of the media and why it's so dangerous to democracy. Essential reading. newstatesman.com/2019/02/why-je…
There's plenty of irresponsible and dishonest reporting out there, as @helenlewis acknowledges. But oddly, it's rarely outlets like Fox News, The Canary, Skwawkbox & Breitbart that draw fire. Instead, it's CNN, the New York Times, The Guardian and Sky News.
The worst of the media is used to smear the best: the same outlets that exposed the scandals over Windrush, children leaving care, NHS waiting lists and homelessness. The effect is to undermine legitimate scrutiny & to "innoculate" the faithful against the possibility of error.
"The media" is not a single entity, slavishly following some conspiratorial agenda. No outlet should be above criticism, but this deliberate trashing of those who hold our leaders to account is extremely dangerous, whether it comes from the right or the left.
