Why are the left so angry with @Guardian? Like many other newspapers, it does some very good journalism, sometimes makes mistakes and has its own ideological blind spots. But I don't think the anger is as much to do with its coverage as a systemic failure of accountability...
When the NY Times was exposed over its disastrous pre Iraq war coverage, it famously published a front page apology to readers. Although it went on to repeat many of the same mistakes, the apology mattered. It was an important moment of humility and self-reflection...
In contrast over the last 5 years @guardian has proved itself institutionally and almost pathologically resistant to meaningful accountability at every turn...
It began by opting out of joining a recognised independent regulator as recommended by Lord Leveson, and then scandalously supported the Conservative government's decision to scrap part 2 of his inquiry into the roots of institutional corruption in the press...
Since then, time and time again it has failed to even acknowledge obvious and demonstrable mistakes... theintercept.com/2019/01/02/fiv…
This is not about bias or even selective facts, but basic reporting failures, including reliance on single anonymous sources with obvious hidden agendas...
Long before the #LeakedLabourReport, evidence had already surfaced which exposed how badly they got the story wrong over antisemitism in the Labour Party... mediareform.org.uk/wp-content/upl…
For weeks both before and after publishing our research, I had lengthy exchanges with head of public affairs, 'readers editor' and one or two journalists. I offered to present and discuss our findings with editorial staff but was brushed off...
and not even a single public acknowledgement of the myriad reporting errors we documented. This is a shame above all because it engenders its own ideological blind spots amongst some of the left...
whose frustration gets magnified in the Twitterverse and manifests as untempered vitriol against anything and anyone associated with the newspaper, and the important and real journalism that @Guardian often produces falls on increasingly deaf ears.
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