Fake! The new reality?

Part One. February 2025

I suspect it’s vanishingly unlikely that anyone with a radio, TV, computer, mobile phone or regular newspaper has failed to notice the growth and promotion of right wing views across our planet. It is equally unlikely that most observers have failed to see the parallel mushrooming of lies, gross exaggerations, conspiracies and other nonsense that accompany it. Or that a significant proportion of the World’s traditional media has enthusiastically gorged itself on the amplification of this pandemic of anti-reason, including the BBC. Some time in the seventies the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom carried a cartoon where a TV announcer was saying “… and now for balance a wild eyed Trot from the lunatic fringe”. Some things perhaps haven’t changed.

Clearly the extraordinary growth in social media use must be playing a part, with it’s corralling of users into isolated groups who only get positive feedback to their dubious claims. The brevity of most of the interactions massively reduces the chances of a nuanced exchange. The failure to hold the mega-rich, tax allergic, publishers (i.e. the financially bloated owners of the social media platforms) to account is inexcusable. No freedom of speech should allow distorted, hate inspired calls for bigotry, intolerance and violence to remain on line unchallenged. It is also absolutely clear that many of these rants are seeded by almost invisible vested interests operating on enormous data sets possibly illegally harvested. Musk has bought himself one of the major companies in this business, rewired it to give himself and his goons top billing in the right of reply stakes and remains judge and jury.

However, traditional ‘news’ selling ownership has been steadily whittled down, in the case of the UK to the big three – DMG Media, News UK and Reach – own 90% of the print market! (ref: Media Reform Coalition at Goldsmiths University 2023). These owners’ “news” empires have no vested interest in supporting progressive change; gathering their news from reliable sources; calling out racist bigotry and violence; employing investigative journalists; supporting ordinary people against tax dodgers and bent politicians or even simply telling the truth and certainly not truth to power! Their, often loss making, dailies have a very different purpose – to distort the “news” in favour of their masters’ financial interests. Some have already even owned up in the Courts to almost unbelievable criminal behaviour among their staff at a high level. However, in spite of falling sales they remain powerful influencers of information spread. Broadcasters (many owned by the same people) quote them and invite them in to discuss the issues of the day/week, often with very little cross examination and supported by right wing “think tanks” with dubious and usually secret funding. The “Overton window” of acceptable politically manoeuvrer has been steadily, but deliberately, steered to the right.

The most worrying aspects to the spread of this trend are its speed and width. Due to the universality of the internet the same issues are occurring across the globe.

We now have the World’s only super power (financially and militarily by a significant margin) completely under the control of an orange, intellectually challenged narcissistic, criminal liar and his handful of mega-rich, fawning, billionaire owners of most of the world’s surveillance capital. As you read this Musk’s handful of young, male, right-wing techies are out of control plundering the US Government’s databases and slashing any sign of support for struggling humans at home and abroad. The Democratic Party and the rest of the World’s “liberal” Parties are shocked and bewildered that all this has fallen on them without any warning???

You couldn’t make it up, but you’d better believe it!

Look out for Part 2.