The Metropolis

News is what we say it is

Cila Warncke | Tuesday 1 June, 2010 22:07

How the News of the World avoids prosecution under the Trade Descriptions Act is one of life’s little mysteries. The venerable tabloid stakes its reputation almost entirely on elaborate entrapment schemes designed to catch gullible semi-public figures with their trousers down (often literally). Take its recent “cash for royal access” snare set for Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson. Fergie was baited and snared with $40K by professional ghoul Mahzer Mahmood. She’s caught on camera accepting a pile of cash in exchange for arranging a “friendship” between Prince Andrew and whoever the hell Mahmood is pretending to be. It is quite easy to get sucked into its shrieking denunciation of the “greedy” and “devious” Duchess. Pause, for a moment, step back, and consider two questions: Is it news? And: Does it matter?

Is it news? Well, no. People have, thanks to years of shoddy journalism and media navel gazing, been conned into the tacit belief that if something happens and is reported upon it is automatically “news.” Nonsense. Actual, honest-to-god, worth-knowing-about news occurs of its own volition. Think hurricanes and burglaries. Not-news includes a much broader category of events that range from the entirely manufactured to the merely self-referential. Press conferences and political analysis are examples of the latter. The News of the World’s Fergie sting is the former: a vicious set-up of an insignificant public figure for no better cause than filling a front page. The “story” wouldn’t exist if the NOTW hadn’t created it, therefore it isn’t news.

Given that it’s not-news the second question – “does it matter?” – pretty much answers itself. Of course it doesn’t. Fergie didn’t offer state secrets, or slip anyone the key to the back gate of Buckingham Palace. Despite hurling a lot of mean adjectives, the NOTW only shows she is broke, desperate and naïve. In other words, she’s human. And if you dangle half a million pounds in front of her nose she’ll say and do things she wouldn’t otherwise. Who wouldn’t?

Entrapment is particularly egregious but not-news takes many forms. The Daily Telegraph grossly distorts the concept of “news” by running a bilious opinion piece titled ‘Making the Country Work Again’ (19 May, 2010, p. 16) under the heading “News focus.” It is, however, quite unapologetically an opinion piece, loaded with phrases like “the Liberal Democrats’ hard-socialist Left”, unsubstantiated statements such as “Life on benefits … encourages crime and anti-social behaviour” and one-sided interpretation of facts. For example, the author, Richard Wellings, claims: “research suggests that long-term claimants are more likely to suffer from poor physical health, low self-confidence, anxiety and depression”—blithely ignoring the possibility that ill-health, lack of confidence, or depression may be the reason for, rather than the result of, someone claiming benefit. The mean-spirited tone is typical. Real news is difficult to bend to a particular political or cultural agenda. Conversely, not-news is a perfect vehicle for bias, misinformation, self-congratulation and social manipulation.

Not-news will chew holes in a rational brain faster than mad cow disease. The only way to avoid getting sucked into a parallel universe patrolled by furious Pharisees is to read every story – no matter how large, official or authoritative-looking – with the two critical questions in mind: Is it news? And: Does it matter? If the answer to both is “yes” then you’re on the track of need-to-know information. Otherwise, you’re just sloshing through someone else’s bile.

cilwarncke.wordpress.com

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