Tag Archives: left futures

Kennedy defection rumours – another reason journalists are losing the public’s trust

So today, at last, the news media is finally reporting the pretty unsurprising news that Charles Kennedy, leader of the Lib Dems from 1999 to 2006, is not leaving the Lib Dems in 2010.

Now it is of course the silly season, and we can easily write off this journalistic confection as mere desperation to fill some column inches / dead air-time. But actually I think it’s a symptom of a wider malaise in political journalism, its ‘tabloidisation’.

How an unsourced rumour went viral

Let’s go back to Friday afternoon, when the Kennedy defection rumours started circulating, and work out how …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , and | 54 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Peter Davies
    @Paul Barbour as of 2024 less than 18% of the population was over 65. What is your definition of soon?...
  • Michael Bukola
    Solidarity with you Ruth on this. We may only have one chance to eliminate private equity profiteering in England's adult social care sector. Reforms by the gov...
  • Suzanne Fletcher
    I am far too late to this discussion so just to say "I agree with Caron" and only add that if there is any crtiticism (and even then said constructively) no men...
  • Paul Barbour
    As Mohammed Amin point out, this is just a proposal from the PM. They won't do anything until after the next election. Given OAPs will soon represent 50% of t...
  • Ruth Bright
    Thanks for this Matt....