In the news

Pope has been throwing epic Pontiff shade at Trump. Perfectly fluent in English? Speak only Spanish to him and refuse to smile in any photo with the gibbon.

Shit is fucked up when the pope is the lesser of two evils...

how the fuck have the New York Times got evidence photos from the scene..?!

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/24/world/europe/manchester-arena-bomb-materials-photos.html

Trump administration has been leaking British classified intelligence as fast as they can to impress the journalists they profess to hate.

Seems to me that 'News' is too much like hard work,
however,
'misery' is easily accumulated and even more easily dispensed
and,
it has no sell-by or best-before date.

The misery of a mis-reported story lingers long after the truth has been reported and the miscreant apprehended and dealt with, as at every stage of the process of justice the misery can be revived.

To edit a UK tabloid, you have to hate people and wish to make their day, every day, a misery.

It's not for a lack of means or opportunity that people choose to remain silent, or alternatively contact the press should they wish to: journalists such as those we're discussing are serving no-one but themselves.

Death knocks are one way of getting the facts right. By getting the facts right, journalists aren't just serving themselves, they're serving the readers of their news. You seem to be against death knocks full stop - presumably you'd rather read inaccurate news?

Funnily enough, journalists hate doing death knocks. Have a read of this:
http://www.mamamia.com.au/death-knocks-and-dealing-with-grief-why-journalists-do-what-they-do/

Or this:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2012/mar/28/phone-hacking-leveson-inquiry

All of your emotions in that situation tell you not to do it (I have friends who are journalists who have told me how horrible their first one was). But the rational part of your brain know that, as the local paper reporter in that research said, relying on others outside the family can give an inaccurate view of a situation. The idea that people should only come forward of their own volition is absurd. Who would you then rely on for the facts? The police? Would you rely on the police to always tell the truth? In light of cases like Stephen Lawrence? I wouldn't.

Even if that is true, considering their modest circulations, it is arrogant in the extreme for journalists to justify their behaviour with the wants of a such a small minority.

That's kind of how a free press works... If you have the money you set up a media outlet. You employ journalists. Those journalists report what they think is newsworthy but also what their readers want to read. How would you have them decide what they should report otherwise?

It's almost as if a Code of Practice is required...

A Code of Practice issued by an external regulatory body, who's membership is not optional and who's rulings are enforceable in law that is.

Cool. You're in great company on that one: Gary Lineker, Hugh Grant, Max Mosley and others who want fame but only on their terms. Max is funding the (essentially made up) regulator IMPRESS:
https://capx.co/the-british-press-could-soon-be-at-the-mercy-of-its-enemies/

Isn't that public spirited of him?

His article is risible.

It's not enough that the same-old, lame-old, self-justifying mitigations are rallied to the cause (although it being disrespectful not to contact the family is a new one on me and warrants a special mention, if only for its complete disengagement from reality).

I'd say it's pretty balanced and sensible. And I'd say he's right: if you were bereaved, and a journalist took a load of untrue stuff off social media about your loved one without asking you, wouldn't you be pissed off that they hadn't spoken to you first?

But it seems you're not the only one who "sees no ships": "One daily newspaper journalist described it [plundering social media] as ‘a virtual version of taking comments from cards and flowers at the scene'”.

Oh.

I see.

You realise that this is an argument in favour of death knocks, right?

Mind you, it's little Moores (I thang yew!) than a barely opaque attack on calls for Moores (Have you tried the veal?) press regulation off the back of Leveson, so I'll be using my copy to wipe the arse of an ursine forest-dweller.

Don't worry, as I said you've got your increased press regulation off the back of Leveson. IMPRESS. Funded by Max Mosley, whose kinky Nazi orgies definitely have nothing whatsoever to do with his families (and his own) links to facism and who definitely wasn't photographed posing as a teddy boy in Notting Hill during the 1958 race riots.

Were it not for the undue influence these widely unread rags have (ever expanding, cheap-to-produce current affairs shows on radio and TV, plugging gaps in their schedule with "What The Papers Say" slots) and the undue political influence their owner's have (thanks to the undue influence of their widely unread rags), they'd have collapsed under the weight of public disinterest by now.

Much like the monarchy and the church. But don't get me started...

I agree with this bit :)

tl:dr - if you want a free press, it's not a buffet. You can't pick and choose.

Just about to post that...

Chilling stuff on both level of expertise on the bomb and the fact that American media see fit to expose this

There's obviously differences between the local paper reporting on the local football teams groundsman of 60 years snuffing it in his sleep, and a huge national story being thrust suddenly upon a family. In things as big as this there seem to be loads of journalist circling and scrabbling for whatever scraps they can without consideration given to those going through it.

That is a colossal breach of every rule in every book.

Team Trump are teaching the rest of the world that if you want a secret to stay that way you can't allow them to know what it is. The American military is also learning this.

leaking the photos or publishing them? they're now on BBC and presumably every other site too.

It should not have happened. What could the investigators gain by releasing them especially with splashes of victims' blood everywhere. Someone will lose their job, I reckon.

It's odd. I had developed a level of respect for the NYT in light of their apparent persistence and integrity in seeking to hold Trump to account. But publishing these confidential details seems unhelpfully out of character.

This bodes well for continued intelligence sharing post brexit.

Yes absolutely. And I should have said obviously I don't support insensitive, tactless, approaches. There are plenty of good free resources on how to report on death sensitively such as this Journalism.co.uk article:
https://www.journalism.co.uk/skills/how-to-report-on-death-and-suicide-responsibly-as-a-journalist/s7/a547931/

So there's no excuse.

This is shocking:

http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/mum-and-daughter-were-ridden-like-horses-and-licked-staff-s-feet-in-cruel-prank-at-poundworld/story-30347358-detail/story.html

Funny though.

Jesus. WTF.

Thanks for taking the time to reply so comprehensively!

I think it's fair to say that neither one of us is likely to sway the opinion of the other and as I fear that others reading this thread have no stomach for another lengthy exchange, I'll leave it there.

tl/dr

I won, you just haven't realised it yet.

;)

Probably got the idea from that film Compliance

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compliance_(film)

It's quite a good film

"the fact is that more than 3,000 jalebis are based in the UK"

Ambala 2017

But what level of desperation would lead them to go along with it in the first place, become suspicious and leave, then go back into the shop for more and finally to sell their story in the hope of greater compensation?

"Jalebi, also known as Zulbia, is a sweet popular in countries of South Asia, West Asia, North Africa, and East Africa. It is made by deep-frying maida flour batter in pretzel or circular shapes, which are then soaked in sugar syrup"

The fact is more than 3,000 jalebis will be based on my stomach if I can find somewhere to buy them.