Lizzie Dearden: When ideology supersedes reporting

Lizzie Dearden: When ideology supersedes reporting

When newspapers' bosses ask themselves why the numbers of newspaper copies sold fell dramatically, they need to have a closer look at the trends of the articles that they print. One cannot fail to spot the fact that many writers like Lizzie Dearden seem to be ideologically driven and that therefore the copies that they produce and their reporting style is not about genuine reporting.They have a case to prove. 

Reporting about legal cases is not about reporting.It is about character assassination. This is pretty bad journalism. When I read a paper, I want real reporting. I want to hear all sides of a story and I want the said reporting to be focused on the case in hand. I don't want a novel in which the author is trying to prove that the person they are reporting about is a very bad person. In so doing, reporting is no longer reporting. It becomes purely and simply propaganda. The Independent was forced out of circulation because not enough copies were being sold to justify the costs of printing and distribution. Now, the The Independent is just an Internet concern.

It is a great idea to have a public forum where people can express their views freely and The Independent has had some success becoming the newspaper version of Facebook. Unfortunately, those in charge have made some mistakes along the way. Whether you want to report about Tommy Robinson or Brexit or whatever else, reporting should not be partisan. The Independent is clearly biased when it comes to reporting about Tommy Robinson and is officially partisan when reporting about Brexit since the paper launched a campaign against Brexit. Once again, when I am thinking about paying for a service, I will definitely be against paying for a service when instead of reporting I am going to get a pamphlet. From a commercial standpoint, a partisan organisation stands to lose money. 

People like Alexander Lebedev and Evgeny Lebedev have very high profiles but their actions seem to be at odds with what is published by The Independent. They reportedly have regular meetings with the Prime Minister and the Chancellor and have an ongoing relationship with Ruppert Murdoch , Nigel Farage and Liam Fox. Alexander Lebedev reportedly closed a newspaper because the said publication criticised Vladimir Putin, was in United Russia Party in support of President Putin and stated that Vladimir Putin is one thousand times more genius than Winston Churchill.

In the running of The Independent there seems to be a system in place, not much different from the systems applied by secret services when what you see is more often than not what they want you to see and not what is really happening. 

Whenever there is an opportunity to bash President Putin and the Russian Federation, Members of Parliament rise to the occasion to depict President Putin and the Russian Federation as evil. Not long ago, Britain expelled Russian diplomats and staff and denied a visa to Roman Abramovich and statements were made about countering Russian interference in British Affairs and we have a former member of the late  KGB and his son and - both supporters of President Putin - being members of the British political scene.

Very often the Houses of Parliament are a bit of a theatre where paid actors play a certain role in a certain play. Everything is not always what it seems. The Independent and its reports fit perfectly in that kind of political circus. The problem is that nowadays we need clarity. We don't need a circus nor a theatre. A digital publication that purports to be a newspaper should be a real newspaper and not a propaganda machine. 

Britain needs real journalism. BBC, SKY and others simply add to extraordinary levels of confusion, distortion and disinformation. Practically all publications and mass media have lost followers. If organisations like the BBC had to survive with their own means, the BBC would have gone the way of Woolworths, Maplin and other private companies. The call by the UKIP Independence Party to get rid of  the TV License sends a clear message but we know that without political power things will remain as they are.