How embarrassing for the vested interests of the mogul-controlled mainstream news media!

Not only has the leader of the UK’s largest political party – Jeremy Corbyn – ridiculed them in his speech, but their attempts to hit back by attacking the social media have only resulted in the recycling of even more evidence against them!

Here’s what Mr Corbyn said in his speech – firstly on the social media:

“And Conference, the other star of that campaign was YOU. Our members, our supporters in the trade unions, our doorstep and social media campaigners. Young people sharing messages and stories on social media, hundreds of thousands organising online and on the ground to outplay the Tories’ big money machine.”

Then he had this to say about the mainstream:

“Of course, there were some who didn’t come out of the election too well. I’m thinking of some of our more traditional media friends. They ran the campaign they always do under orders from their tax exile owners to trash Labour at every turn. The day before the election one paper devoted fourteen pages to attacking the Labour Party. And our vote went up nearly 10%. “Never have so many trees died in vain. The British people saw right through it. So this is a message to the Daily Mail’s editor- next time, please could you make it 28 pages?”

Here’s the video clip:

Jeremy Corbyn criticises the Daily Mail and "traditional" media publications for trying to "bash Labour at every turn" during the election. pic.twitter.com/ldkLt1scbA — Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) September 27, 2017

It's definitely *a sign media power has shifted* that a political leader feels able to use their conference speech to tell the editor of the UK's second most popular newspaper to piss off without worrying about the consequences. — Jim Waterson (@jimwaterson) September 27, 2017

Jeremy Corbyn not only takes on Paul Dacre and the Daily Mail – he also laughs directly into their faces … lovely stuff, Jezza! #Lab17 https://t.co/OAtKmfaFso — Ben Cogan (@BeCoMeCast) September 27, 2017

This Writer spent many years writing for local newspapers before moving online to start Vox Political and provide a more balanced interpretation of the news – so you know where I stand.

Incidentally, Mr Corbyn was right – as this graph by social media stalwart Another Angry Voice shows:

Nick Robinson, of the BBC and the Conservative Party, takes a different view, it seems. He has written – in The Guardian, whose writers seem to believe they have a duty to undermine the new media:

“Attacks on the media are no longer a lazy clap line delivered to a party conference to raise morale. They are part of a guerrilla war being fought on social media day after day and hour after hour.”

He also wrote that all alternative websites shared a “certainty fuelled by living in a social media bubble” that reporters and presenters at the BBC and other mainstream media organisations were “at best craven – obeying some dictat from our bosses or the government – and at worst nakedly biased”.

Somebody’s certainly living in a bubble, but it’s not the writers of social media!

Nick Robinson using the phrase "alternative" media, instead of INDEPENDENT media – poor attempt to discredit what he doesn't understand — Revolution Breeze #IamvotingLabour (@suejonessays) September 28, 2017

Let’s take a moment to witness Noam Chomsky explaining to Andrew Marr – of the BBC – why people in the mainstream media live within a bubble of their own:

Chomsky explains media bias to Andrew Marr, "If you believed something different, you wouldn't be sitting where you're sitting" 😂 pic.twitter.com/vlbIA2c2gf — Richard 4 Deputy (@RB4Deputy) September 27, 2017

If they believed something different, they wouldn’t be sitting where they’re sitting. Absolutely right. They’d be sitting here, with me, earning very little money because their (current) bosses wouldn’t pay for a dissenting viewpoint.

Let’s have a practical example. Here’s Mr Robinson showing his opinion of people who live outside his own media bubble:

MSM lauding Nick Robinson for his comments on alternative media, this is what he thinks of us ordinary people…pic.twitter.com/GiFZXVnYEN — The Awakend #EL4C (@the_awakend) September 28, 2017

As for whether the BBC is “nakedly biased”, let’s ask Tom Pride, whose social media site Pride’s Purge has produced important revelations and excellent satire in roughly equal doses:

Bias? What do you think?

BBC literally used an (untrue) Tory HQ slogan to describe the Labour manifesto during the last election campaign: pic.twitter.com/IU5I2Xmcgd — Tom Pride (@ThomasPride) September 28, 2017

Mr Pride has previously provided this information about Mr Robinson, when he was the BBC’s political editor:

(And if you think Nick’s bad, just take a look at the allegiances of some of his colleagues, as listed in this Vox Political article. It was written three years ago, so some of the information may be out of date, but you get a very clear picture of what BBC news was in 2014.)

What’s the likelihood of pro-Tory bias, with a record like that? According to Mr Robinson, there isn’t any. But then, he thinks it’s the social media writers who are living in a bubble.

Here’s someone who isn’t – former BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons:

https://twitter.com/ToryFibs/status/913310859568525312

The Today Programme presenter’s rant certainly provoked a strong response from other social media news sites. Here’s Evolve Politics:

Nick Robinson and detached journalism is dying. Our stories are written by people who are affected by real-world effects of government. — Evolve Politics (@evolvepolitics) September 27, 2017

The problem with journalists like Nick Robinson is that the effects of government have almost no bearing on them. We report from experience. https://t.co/xNRivdmjPO — Evolve Politics (@evolvepolitics) September 27, 2017

I have a feeling that veteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner would support this view. Here he is tearing strips off a TV reporter for daring to suggest journalists could report as though they were not affected by political decisions:

Dennis Skinner running rings around journalists at Labour conference. pic.twitter.com/uaSYRsq8so — Richard 4 Deputy (@RB4Deputy) September 26, 2017

Here’s Steve Topple of The Canary:

So, Robinson says people like me live "in a social media bubble". I prefer "a council estate in London", or "the real world w/ real people". https://t.co/7QpX7A1VRf — Steve Topple (@MrTopple) September 28, 2017

And online political essayist Sue Jones:

Nick Robinson says independent journalists waging "guerrilla warfare" on BBC. We want news, not conservative opinions about Tory opinions — Revolution Breeze #IamvotingLabour (@suejonessays) September 28, 2017

In the interests of impartiality, I should state my own belief that reporting of current events – especially political events – should be done in as non-partisan a way as possible. The problem with this is that it is very hard to find a mainstream media outlet that does so. Information is published selectively, so the reader/viewer is not able to form a balanced view – or material is presented as fact when it isn’t. Look at the EU referendum campaign for prime examples of this behaviour.

It is when commenting on current events that journalists should be allowed to present their own opinions – which should be based on all the facts available, and not just whatever any particular writer prefers. Vox Political mostly provides commentary on the news, so you get a high proportion of opinion from me. I have broken news stories from time to time, and when that has happened, clever readers may have noticed that I adopt a more formal style.

None of that is happening in the mainstream media’s current attempt to smear those of us who write online.

The BBC’s current bid to discredit The Canary, after that site reported (correctly) that the Corporation’s political editor, Laura Kuennsberg, had been invited to be a speaker at a fringe event during the Conservative Party conference is a clear example.

And check out this Twitter couplet involving the Graun‘s Jonathan Freedland and (again) Tom Pride – a clear example of MSM representatives closing ranks:

Now JC makes the requisite attack on the media. It works for Trump and it works for him #Lab17 — Jonathan Freedland (@Freedland) September 27, 2017

Why is a Guardian hack defending Daily Mail hacks who lied, even used photo shopped images to smear a party leader?#ThickAsThieves https://t.co/u9HZUNF7C3 — Tom Pride (@ThomasPride) September 28, 2017

Here’s Evolve Politics‘s Matt Turner:

https://twitter.com/MattTurner4L/status/913343913032916992

I was going to give the last word to Tom Pride…

People in glass houses really shouldn't throw stones: pic.twitter.com/j96Vrba7VS — Tom Pride (@ThomasPride) September 28, 2017

For those who can’t read images, it says: “Dear UK journalists,

“No, it is not the fault of alternative media that the public no longer trusts you.

“It’s your own failure to call out your own colleagues’ lies and manipulation on supposedly mainstream news sites like The Sun, the Mail and the Express.

“It’s time you stopped turning a blind eye to your own colleagues’ failings, stood up for the integrity of your profession and started saying NO to your proprietors’ demands to lie, spin and manipulate on their behalf.”

Amen. But then the following arrived on my Twitter feed, summing up perfectly the relationship between the mainstream media and real people, who now have an outlet for their frustration on the online social media:

Hi Aisyah. I'm a Video Producer for @DailyMailAU. Can we use your video in our player to report on the eruption? Cheers, Matt — MailOnline Video (@MailOnlineVideo) September 27, 2017

No. I'd rather die in a volcanic eruption than have my work affiliated with the Daily Mail. https://t.co/5U8i2sMaLL — Aisyah (@AisyahHukum) September 27, 2017

Quite right too – and a sentiment with which I’m sure Jeremy Corbyn would agree.

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