Monday 25 March 2019

The Hollow Men


Anthony Zurcher?

T.S. Eliot's The Hollow Men ends with his most famous lines of poetry: "This is the way the world ends/Not with a bang but a whimper."  

The Hollow Men of Lord Hall's mainstream media must have been thinking something similar when the news of the Mueller report's findings came through last night. 

The New York Times at least didn't try to sugar the pill for its readers this morning: 


So is this going to provoke some urgent soul-searching on the mainstream media's part? 



I'm very intrigued to see what Paul Wood writes about it next. He's invested so much in ever-so-impartially giving the claims credence that his take on what went wrong with much of the mainstream media reporting on the subject - including the BBC's reporting and his own reporting - would be riveting to read.

Will such soul-searching take place?

I turn, as we all surely must do, to the beating heart of the BBC - the BBC's World Affairs Editor John Simpson. He's surely the weather vane for the BBC here.

And - alas, not unsurprisingly- we see him reaching for straws and rolling on regardless. 


  • "Being (apparently) cleared of collusion with Russia may help Pres Donald Trump win re-election.  But Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal says even if there’s not enough evidence to prosecute him for criminal conspiracy, questions remain over whether Trump has been compromised."
  • "Anne Applebaum, Washington Post: Russia made extensive efforts, through hacking emails as well as information warfare, to help Trump win in 2016. Members of the Trump campaign knew this in advance. Trump publicly called on Russia to release information that would hurt Clinton."

I suspect he's going to be highly representative of Lord Hall's mainstream media. 

4 comments:

  1. Facts, (and free speech), are part of a 'right-wing' conspiracy.

    The BBC et al tell us 'the higher truth', (or what they wish reality should be).

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  2. I often get the Spectator but don't waste much time on Paul Wood's purely speculative pieces. I couldn't recall that article but found it online:

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/02/in-defence-of-christopher-steele/

    A very, very poor exercise in journalism, failing to bring out the sheer determination of Dems in the FBI and CIA to get Trump. Failing to note the formal and familial connections between Fusion GPS, the Democratic Party, the DoJ, the FBI and the CIA or the way the "5 Eyes" security agencies co-operate.

    Ex CIA director and anti-Trump extremist John Brennan is not even mentioned in the article and yet many like astute commentator Greg Jarrett believe he was at the centre of the anti-Trump conspiracy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry - that's a reference to the "In defence of Christopher Steele" article.

      I also meant to add that Wood fails even to note the irony of writing about potential but unproven interference by a foreign nation in the US Presidential election while giving us proof postitive of the UK's interference! (an ex ambassador and an ex spy both getting involved - and only a fool would think such actions take place without a degree of official sanction).

      Delete
  3. Given hollow vessels make the most noise, that Simpo is heard loudest is no surprise.

    ReplyDelete

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