The US press is perfect........

There is now widespread speculation that referring the Murdoch bid for BSkyB to the Competition Commission  may rebound in Rup’s favour by giving him the opportunity to withdraw  his undertaking to dispose of Sky News. As it happens, this is the only TV news that we watch, both BBC and ITV being both boring and PC.

It is said that he wants to transform it into a Brit version of Fox. This would really put the wind up the establishment, the BBC and the Guardian. Fox is the voice of the right that we don’t have here. If it achieved the same success here as in the US it would be a major force to be reckoned with. No-one speaks for ‘conservatives’  these days.

Rupe would have more sense, of course, than to try to introduce American style. Ranting windbags like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh would be figures of parody here.

There was a silly piece in the DT about how the press in the US is far superior to our disorderly lot. This is because in America journalism is regarded as an honourable estate backed by prestigious University qualification, whereas in UK it is a raffish trade. Professional integrity rules out the kind of cosiness with politicians that is essential in political journalism in the UK. The outcome is the American newspapers are vastly more respectable, authoritative, independent and trustworthy that British rags; superior in every way!

Yeah, right!

In my experience I would say ‘None of the above’. For starters, they do not have a national press, apart from the NYT, the Herald-Tribune and the WSJ. The local papers are distinguished only by their weight. Buy a paper in Colorado Springs and you will learn almost nothing about what is happening in the rest of the US and nothing about world affairs. They are almost all boring beyond measure. The writing is stodgy and discursive. The page design and general layout and appearance seems stuck in 1946, almost laughably old-fashioned.

The press corps gives the impression that it is overwhelmingly sycophantic towards Washington and the White House. I hear that Obama was most put out when he had his press conference in London and the hacks were all lolling around in their usual disrespectful manner, whereas in the US the all leap to their feet when POTUS enters the room.

                                                                                                                                

As for the ‘deference’ thing, my understanding is that US hacks need to be ‘accredited’ if they are to be admitted to the White House briefings, Government departments etc.  If you are naughty, you get your accreditation removed pronto and so you can’t do your job.

If there are American journos out there who deliver the same kind of kind of cerebral vitriol as Heffer, Randall, Oborne, Daley, Liddle et al I would like to hear of them. PJ O’Rourke probably comes closest.

                                            

The TV news programmes that I have watched are as bad as those in the UK. The best international news programmes I have seen are BBC World and CNN International. On the home front, CNN is unwatchable and BBC unwatched.

As for respectability, apart from the obvious fact that this is about the last thing we want of the media, my understanding (although I have never read them) is that America has a raft of gloriously outrageous rags that match our own (largely written by Brit expats, I am told, as American hacks won’t deign to write this stuff – or lack the necessary skills). They have the advantage, too, of defamation laws that sit very lightly.

Green news               

According to a BBC documentary, there was a massive tsunami in Wales in 1607 which wiped out the entire population of the area. Contemporary reports say that this was God’s punishment for Taffy’s sins. So forget about joining the Green Party; join the Church instead.