Saturday, 22 November 2014

The crazy world of Twitter


Former head of the Young Britain Firsters Nick Robinson and his deputy fuhrer (if Twitter is to be believed)

The crazy world of Twitter just keeps getting crazier, and the mainstream media are getting ever more caught up in the madness. 

Take this non-story from yesterday's Daily Telegraph by Steven Swinford: 

Nick Robinson in series of robust exchanges with critics after being photographed in 'selfie' with Britain First candidate

Nick Robinson, the BBC presenter, has admitted he made a mistake after unwittingly having a "selfie" taken with candidate from Britain First, a spin off from the BNP.
The presenter was subjected to a backlash on Twitter after being photographed during the Rochester by-election campaign with Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First.
Some users called on him to resign for the "shameful" photograph, while others suggested that he was a secret supporter of the far right group.
In a series of robust exchanges Mr Robinson said that he didn't realise who she was, telling one of his critics to "grow up".
Mr Robinson said: "Lesson of the day. Never agree to have selfie taken without first checking who's asking. Shame but my mistake."
I agree with Nick - or at least the bit where he told someone who suggested he's a secret support of Britain First to "grow up". 

That, however, is the problem with Twitter in a nutshell. It is full of people who should be told to "grow up". Instead, their daily tantrums, which seem to spiral into hysterical hue-and-cries at the drop of a hat, are indulged. A sense of proportion is forgotten, and apologies  forced, careers ruined, heads made to roll, often for merely 'causing offence' or making innocent mistakes (as with Nick Robinson here). 

*********

Talking of which, a vocal section of the Twitterati are up in arms about this morning's Today too. They "have never been so angry about #r4today reporting" as they were this morning for "hammering" Labour when the story should (for them) have been the Tories losing the by-election, The programme is a "Tory mouthpiece" with a "complete imbalance of coverage":


So, there you go, the view from another planet:  The BBC is obsessively pushing the Emily Thornberry tweet story to help out the Tories. They are following the right-wing Tory press. They are also pushing UKIP. And it's all typical BBC bias.

Of course, the fact that Emily Thornberry is the only senior politician to have resigned in recent days and that she was condemned by Labour MPs including her own former boss Ed Miliband for her tweet makes it big news. Today likes reporting political resignations because resignations are big things in the world of Westminster politics (the Westminster Bubble). That's something doesn't seem to have crossed these tweeters' minds.

Now, of course, some of this anti-BBC tweeting may be mere politicking (i.e. Labour people pretending to be outraged on behalf of Labour) but I suspect a lot of it is genuine partisan stupidity.

Still, this stuff is almost completely dominating the BBC news and current affairs-related portions of Twitter comment with very rare right-wing counter tweets. If Twitter is, as they say it is, now a rapidly growing news source we can expect the gathering hue-and-cry against the BBC from the pro-SNP, anti-Israel, anti-Tory, and UKIP, pro-Green (etc) brigade to grow ever louder and ever more influential, however groundless it may be (and usually is).

Forewarned is forearmed, perhaps.
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous23 November 2014 at 01:38

    Nick Robinson was Chairman of the Oxford Conservatives I believe. I think he's a Kenclarkian Conservative. Everything in his reporting points that way.

    Dan Read

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  2. David Preiser23 November 2014 at 01:45

    "That, however, is the problem with Twitter in a nutshell. It is full of people who should be told to "grow up". Instead, their daily tantrums, which seem to spiral into hysterical hue-and-cries at the drop of a hat, are indulged."

    You mean the BBC.

    As for those tweets, they do get complaints from both sides, you know. These will of course be clung to as evidence that there is no pro-Labour/Left bias at the BBC.

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