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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

  • Mohammed Amin
    I have just read the full article, and recommend it....
  • PM
    @ Mick, "Referenda are not really part of the UK constitution and we should have nothing to do with them" What is actually part of the constitut...
  • Tim Rogers
    Well he has a lot to bang on about. My heart may well be more for west Cornwall but the north is a close second. I should also mention Brecon as I spent many ha...
  • Richard Whelan
    My concern with these types of agreements is the Supply bit. Can we amend the annual Budget, or even reject it, if it does not fit in with our overall approach...
  • Mick Taylor
    @JasonConnor. We are a parliamentary democracy. We elect MPs to make decisions for us. If a future government gets elected on a platform to join the EU, then co...