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I too was horrified by the huge numbers of people voting for the BNP...76,000 or so in London...and its a sad day when UKIP gains so much ground too....the UK's future in Europe looks bleaker by the day.
Saveloy, I too was annoyed by that presenter on the Today proramme, I think that you are right to be irked. The media so often uses 'the public' as a blanket term, when quite clearly it is not one homogeneous mass of people who all think alike. It's a myth that there is such a thing as 'the public' at all really, as specific 'publics' tend to form around specific issues, so you can be a member of many different 'publics' at any one point and hold sometimes seemingly conflicting opinions...which is why the idea of getting a snapshot of 'public opinion', through polls is such a stupid idea in my opinion, as it only ever will reflect one part of the picture.
The fact that the reporter was suggesting that all those people accross Europe all voted with the same motivation was just stupid really...it seems that a lot of journalists often think of themselves themselves as a mouthpiece for 'the public', which often seems to equate to them feeling that their opinions/assumptions (as a member of the public) are indicative of the whole. Sadly the media also don't like grey areas do they? So a nice black and white/for and against/ bad vs. good article is always going to have more news value....which in itself is fine, given that the media needs to sell papers and is a business like any other (though the BBC perhaps shouldn't feel so obliged to grab headlines in this way) and yes it may make more striking headlines, but does it help unpick and inform on what is a very complex issue? not in my opinion....less generalisations and more analysis of the possible motivations would have been better I think. |
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