Category: Media and Journalism

Peter Preston over at the Observer remarks on bias within the media industry. He points out that the UK is unique in the world where almost all its major newspapers are now owned by foreigners. I like his wit though:

Two countries 25 miles apart with very similar public opinion polls, but two hugely disparate press responses. ‘What’s the difference between toast and Frenchmen?’ asks the Sun. Answer: ‘You can make soldiers out of toast.’

What’s the difference between French papers and British papers? Our biggest ones are owned by Australian-Americans and Canadians. And that, in times of national crisis, does set us apart.
See Noam Chomsky’s Necessary Illusions.

Mark Lawson writes a personal piece in today’s Observer about his recent experience of flying to the US. I can certainly see what he means, I was pretty nervous flying to New York two weeks after the bombings – but I lived to tell the tale.