That’s the unconventional conclusion from a thoughtful piece by Danny Finkelstein:
When I worked for the last Conservative Prime Minister and then for the party leader in opposition, we were obsessed with the idea of media bias. I spent hours on memos, assembling evidence.
I vaguely realised even then that it was a waste of time. Now I think it was actively counter-productive.
Why? Read the full piece to see (though I think actually his piece is more about how to avoid complaints that are counter-productive rather than saying that trying to tackle media bias is itself misguided).
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5 Comments
And he’s right.
Of course, nothing motivates the grassroots on the American left or right than complaining about liberal/conservative bias in the media.
That’s why MoveOn.Org keep sending me emails about Fox News (When they’re not demanding the American right to burn up the planet with cheap petrol should be enshrined in the cosntitution)..
Mr Finkelstein is obviously finding it a struggle to remain in the Conservative fold, what’s with that?
I think there’s a lot of truth in what Finky has to say but I’m struggling to work out a useful application for it.
Tentatively, what I would suggest is that the modern trend of “factchecking” on a public website tends to be more effective. But that doesn’t really help when the problem is you are being ignored.
I’m sorry but I think the media should be challenged.
There’s too much consensus journalism out there (and I speak as a journalist) and the Lib Dems are often completely overlooked or reports are written/broadcast in a way in which the Lib Dems are either sidelined or airbrushed out. That is wrong and we need to challenge it.
I agree with Ashley/James. Finkelstein is coming from a totally different angle to us. He is talking about the specific problem of “liberal media bias”, i.e. that Tory inner conviction that the BBC is a vast secret left-wing conspiracy. Not something that can be translated usefully to our problem – which tends to result from actual shoddy journalism rather than the political stripe of the journalist.
Tory complaints along those lines always make me smile. What they’re really saying, it always seems to me, is that they don’t like the fact that intelligent, successful people might disagree with them.