Mail online making up stories - absolute gold

[Ian Price]

There are almost cretinaly people that are paid to keep 'obituaries' up to date with recent event. IIRC there was something on teletext years ago about the Queen mother having died (when she hadn't). I can understand that sort of but not the whole making up of events. I struggle with films doing dramatisations of historical stuff let alone pretty much real time events!

[Afghan Dave]

...Probably illustrated with a picture of Pippa Middleton.

Too true!  :)

[plastercaster]

Yeah but you can write an accurate obituary in advance, this was clearly total horseshite.

[Philly Q]

...Probably illustrated with a picture of Pippa Middleton.

Too true!  :)

You often hear commentators saying things like "we get the press we deserve", "they wouldn't publish it if we didn't want to read it" and "if you don't like it you don't have to buy it" (TV equivalent: "there's a switch marked OFF").

I think there's some truth in those arguments - but it's not that we want the cr@p they feed us, we're just too apathetic to cancel a TV package, change papers or complain about content, even if we don't like it. 

But sometimes the media just decide to hype something which isn't in the "public interest" at all.  Pippa bloody Middleton is a great example.  She goes to a wedding.  She looks alright in her dress.  Then suddenly we get mountains of stories about how she supposedly has the best arse in the world and they're digging up old photos of her on holiday and she's in every paper every bloody day for weeks.  Was that driven by "public demand"?  Would there have been a huge clamour over the lack of Pippa content if we had never seen her (or her arse) again?  I don't think so.  The whole thing was a media creation.

Sorry, O/T.

[blue]

...and when people lost interest i think there was a "scandalous" story that her arse may have been surgically enhanced.  bizarre.

i try to ignore all these "newspapers"  and "celebrity"  gossip rags.  really holds no interest for me at all, except for my astonishment at so many people being wrapped up in these supposedly famous folks' lives.  i've never heard of most of them, and have no clue how they came to fame.  don't care either

[AndyR]

Who is Pippa Middleton? I seem to recall the name, but other than that...

(I don't actually read newspapers, in case you can't tell! :lol:)

[dave_mc]

^ she's kate middleton's sister (the one married to prince william)

Yeah but you can write an accurate obituary in advance, this was clearly total horseshitee.

+1

[38thBeatle]

Apparently they heard "guilty" to another charge that Ms Knox had been subject to and pressed the button rather too quickly.  Apparently they were not the only ones to make the wrong assumption- I heard that the wonderful Guardian and the sizzling soar away Sun did too but didn't actually hit the button. The article was posted for around 80 seconds or so.

I have no love for any of the newspapers and this was a stupid stupid mistake and very embarrassing for those concerned because it shows that they have, erm, "obtained" their story before the event. Something the "guardians of the nation's morals" have been known to do on previous occasions.

[Ian Price]

Yeah but you can write an accurate obituary in advance, this was clearly total horseshitee.

Indeed - and exactly what I was trying to say above but probably failed in the explanation!

[dave_mc]

oh yeah, i mean i know the guardian is closer to my political bent than the mail is, but if you believe any figures or graphs you see in the guardian you're silly. Almost invariably the next day they have it in the corrections part :lol: