[Media-watch] (no subject)

[Tim Gopsill]

Hello
 
I'm touched by this plea. 
 
But isn't media watch as its name implies an info resource rather than a forum? Like most list members I guess I am in a branch of the media -- I work for the NUJ  - and I regard the postings as of great value. I file them and use them all the time, if that's any consolation to those that put them up. Occasionally I send things to David Miller for him to post if he wishes - it does seem to me you need an editor for these things - but I've never reacted to anything.
 
For one thing I find bulletin boards that are filled with chit-chat rather irritating. For another I have a vague view that we are all of like mind on these questions and discussion would be superfluous. 
 
Last week someone asked for views of something on Rense. In the past I have looked at stuff on this site and worried at what seemed to be a tinge of anti-semitism. So I read last week's item closely but could not detect any traces. In fact I found it quite sane - and thought - what is the point in replying to say that?
 
I promise - if I see something that really winds me up I will explose into email.
 
TimG
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: YvonneMarshall [mailto:Brotherhoods at stevenston4.fsnet.co.uk]
Sent: 31 March 2004 00:32
To: media-watch at lists.stir.ac.uk
Subject: [Media-watch] (no subject)


Dear List-Members,
 
This is a personal rant, no links attached.
 
Traffic at this address has diminished of late, and if it wasn't for the contributions of D Miller and Julie-anne Davis then I'd have nothing - precisely nothing - to rant about. The fact that submissions are still being made to media-watch is, in itself, encouraging, but the paucity of comment and reaction to developments by those who have subscribed to the list since its inception is depressing.
 
Who is it that takes the time to read this list, to respond to postings, to stay up way-past their bedtimes when they could be doing so many other things ? Who, in their right mind, would want to tap away at a keyboard when other sensible beings are, if not asleep, partaking in on-line orgies and quizzes ? What is the point of this ?
 
Hello ?
 
Yes, you. It must be you. You're reading this. If you are as half-witted as me then you're trying, without really knowing why, to create a 'debate' which does not happen elsewhere. You are perhaps sick and tired of watching News-24 and the other 'non-stop' news channels which promise so much but deliver so little. Maybe you're sick of being fed lies by people who are employed, and work, in shifts, to deliver the scripts which are fed to them by people who are, in turn, thoroughly sick of what they do but have no 'realistic' option.
 
Do you have a mortgage ? Yes, so do I. Do you have children ? Yes, so do I. The very same excuses are made by those who dutifully script and deliver the often comically inane cobblers fed to us all as 'news'. If this isn't a preoccupation of media-watch then it f***ing well should be. "I was only doing what I was told..." Aye, right, sure thing, heard it...nae excuse at all, at all.
 
So, why do we do it  ? Why do we send each other bits and pieces of 'news' which don't appear on the telly or the radio ? What is the point ? 
 
What is it about this list that will make it last, make it relevant, make it something worth recommending to friends etc etc ? I don't know. Do you ?
 
Why is it that, even on an open forum like this, people are unable, or unwilling, to state their own feelings about what's happening in media rather than simply post links to the work of others ? Is this forum not a legitimate arena for airing original, personal views ?
 
If so, where are they ? My name is not Yvonne Marshall, as it appears in your Inbox, but that's because I haven't changed the name since subscribing. My name is Ian Brotherhood and I am a real person, and I have real beefs and rants about what's going on, much of it media-related. What about everyone else ? What are the personal beefs, what is the problem ? Why are you writing to this thing, this forum, but not expressing yourself, not stating openly what YOU think ???
 
What DO you think ?
 
Speak up, speak your 'truth', whatever it is. I know media-watch isn't a chat-room, but it would be nice, invigorating, to hear the real voices behind the 'posters' - the reason why you post whatever you do is perhaps - nay probably - as important as the content of your references.
 
Thanks for your attention, and best regards,
 
Ian Brotherhood
 
 

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