Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story

RT @leftfootfwd: Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story: http://bit.ly/qmP2w6 – by @ShamikDas #phonehacking #Murdoch

Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story: http://bit.ly/qmP2w6 – by @ShamikDas #phonehacking #Murdoch

Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story: http://bit.ly/qmP2w6 – by @ShamikDas #phonehacking #Murdoch

Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story: http://bit.ly/qmP2w6 – by @ShamikDas #phonehacking #Murdoch

RT @leftfootfwd: Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story http://t.co/PuzQIyj

Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story: http://bit.ly/qmP2w6 – by @ShamikDas #phonehacking #Murdoch

Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story: http://bit.ly/qmP2w6 – by @ShamikDas #phonehacking #Murdoch

Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story: http://bit.ly/qmP2w6 – by @ShamikDas #phonehacking #Murdoch

Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story: http://bit.ly/qmP2w6 – by @ShamikDas #phonehacking #Murdoch

The Sun's headline this morning? "Goldenballs mothballed"; no mention of Gordon Brown: http://t.co/IFZ5bus #phonehacking #Murdoch #pathetic

Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story: http://bit.ly/qmP2w6 – by @ShamikDas #phonehacking #Murdoch

The Sun's headline this morning? "Goldenballs mothballed"; no mention of Gordon Brown: http://t.co/IFZ5bus #phonehacking #Murdoch #pathetic

The Sun's headline this morning? "Goldenballs mothballed"; no mention of Gordon Brown: http://t.co/IFZ5bus #phonehacking #Murdoch #pathetic

RT @leftfootfwd: Yet again, the discredited #Sun fails to report the main story http://t.co/LUmG4YA

Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story l Left Foot Forward – http://j.mp/pctgA2

Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story: http://bit.ly/qmP2w6 – by @ShamikDas #phonehacking #Murdoch

The Sun's headline this morning? "Goldenballs mothballed"; no mention of Gordon Brown: http://t.co/IFZ5bus #phonehacking #Murdoch #pathetic

The Sun's headline this morning? "Goldenballs mothballed"; no mention of Gordon Brown: http://t.co/IFZ5bus #phonehacking #Murdoch #pathetic

The Sun's headline this morning? "Goldenballs mothballed"; no mention of Gordon Brown: http://t.co/IFZ5bus #phonehacking #Murdoch #pathetic

Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story l Left Foot Forward – http://j.mp/pctgA2

The Sun's headline this morning? "Goldenballs mothballed"; no mention of Gordon Brown: http://t.co/IFZ5bus #phonehacking #Murdoch #pathetic

The Sun's headline this morning? "Goldenballs mothballed"; no mention of Gordon Brown: http://t.co/IFZ5bus #phonehacking #Murdoch #pathetic

The Sun's headline this morning? "Goldenballs mothballed"; no mention of Gordon Brown: http://t.co/IFZ5bus #phonehacking #Murdoch #pathetic

Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story: http://bit.ly/qmP2w6 – by @ShamikDas #phonehacking #Murdoch

The Sun's headline this morning? "Goldenballs mothballed"; no mention of Gordon Brown: http://t.co/IFZ5bus #phonehacking #Murdoch #pathetic

Given that all the hacking/blagging stories being reported (e.g. Millie Dowler’s family, families of soldiers, Gordon Brown and assorted celebrities) seem to have occurred when Labour was in office, I find it very odd indeed that Miliband is seeking to make political capital out of this.

I don’t find it credible that only one party knew about all this or that only one party found it acceptable etc. They were all in it together, cowering from a media they daren’t confront.

Rebekah Brooks, we are told phoned Brown up to let him know, and then Brown stated he was in tears, he was horrified, then why did he go to her wedding.

Why when it was labour in power did they not demand answers.

We Brownowmn to day telling us how hurt he was how desperate he was, yet he did sod all about it.

Seems Murdock has more power and Labour were to scared to do anything.

we are now told before this broke Miliband was off to News International do to speak, seem odd these people are all feeling so bitter but not bitter enough to say no to the odd do or class of champers.

Sir ian Blair is now twisting and turning on TV

It’s a pity for Mr Brown and his family that neither he nor his party have a leg to stand on when it comes to media dirty tricks.

Reporting a true story about his child may well have been distasteful.

But compared to conspiring from within No. 10 to libel political opponents?

Or, perhaps, using the press to smear a civil servant while his family was making his funeral arrangements?

And who could forget the charming Miss Moore?

Certainly it would be interesting to see the time-line that indicated precisely when Mr Brown’s vendetta began.

The entire political establishment was clearly intimidated by Murdoch’s henchmen: not surprising, given what they were capable of. At least Miliband is now taking a strong lead in pushing the government to deal with these evil people.

No matter how disgusting these revelations are,it does not stop the Brown haters coming out in force does it?
Says everything you need to know about the tories,After Gordon Brown faced a 10 year onslaught from NI,they still couldn,t form a majority government

From Miliband point of view it’s the battle ground he has been looking for, but not forgetting Mr Miliband was off to the News International do to speak as the guest speaker.

If this had not broken I wonder if Miliband would have started this crusade I very much doubt it.

getting on band wagons is great until the wheels fall off and your left carrying the can

john,

You won’t find me defending News International. Stories about the medical conditions of politicians’ children are not in the public interest and the story is more disgusting because of how the information was obtained.

The point I was making, and clearly others are thinking this too, is that this has been going on for years, under several different governments. Brown and Blair knew about it; surely Major and Thatcher knew about dodgy behaviour too. There’s no political capital to be made out of this. That he is trying at all tells us plenty about Miliband’s judgment.

There’s no point whingeing that Brown faced criticism from the Murdoch press (certainly no need for the hyperbole: ’10 year onslaught’ is utter rubbish), less still is there any point in Brown himself suggesting that he could still be in power if this had come to light earlier. What a chilling thought…

No, the most unpopular Prime Minister in history was treated shabbily by a visceral media desperate to shift papers, but his own incompetence caused his defeat, not the tabloid press reflecting public opinion.

john – So it’s OK for you to criticise people who happen to believe in Parliamentary democracy and were angry when Brown promised Blair would serve a full third term then when people like me believed him, voted for Blair and got Brown were miffed?

Of course you neglect to mention that he was involved in employing Wheelan, McBride and Draper, calling a Labour supporter a bigot, smearing David Kelly and Cameron the week HIS disabled son died and numerous other despicable acts.

Brown made Labour unelectable and whilst his complaint is fair about his son’s medical situation being leaked to the media, to see him on his high horse after throwing mobile phones at staff is sickening.

And if it is proven to be true that The Sunday Times did “blag” info illegally I will immediately stop, after 30 years, reading the Times – that’s called integrity john.

How many of the anti Murdoch brigade have now cancelled their Sky subscriptions – have you john?

Certainly the author of this very article hasn’t I’ll wager….

Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story: http://bit.ly/qmP2w6 – by @ShamikDas #phonehacking #Murdoch

If I had a Sky subscription it would certainly be cancelled, but though I’m very into sport I wouldn’t touch anything Murdoch with a barge pole. This whole thing has caused ructions within my immediate family because I have a close relative who lost his job on the NoTW through no fault of his own. However, I do believe its demise will been a very very good thing if out of it we get less influence on politicians from billionaire media barons.

RT @leftfootfwd: Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story http://t.co/tewDSIS #dontbuythesun

RT @leftfootfwd: Yet again, the discredited Sun fails to report the main story http://t.co/MAOvoTD

[...] come as no surprise at all to you that today’s Sun completely ignored the story. As pathetic as it was [...]

“not the tabloid press reflecting public opinion.”

No Eastie bollox, the press, like you with your poison, seek to drive public opinion by misleading it.

“then when people like me believed him, voted for Blair and got Brown were miffed?”
“then when people like me believed him, voted for Blair and got Brown were miffed?”

What a big pack of lies Mickey Mouse! You’d have rather lose your right arm than vote Blair .It really is time you started to come clean about yourself and identity. Easy to hide behind your fake ID, but the day you’re exposed I look forward to with relish. And believe me, it’s on the cards.

Richard,

I presume that since you quoted me you meant to respond to me, not eastie? And to what ‘poison’ do you refer? I assume you aren’t tolerant of different opinions.

Anyway, you’re only partially right about the press. Of course newspapers take on causes and try to influence opinion. But you’re deluded if you think that they shape more than they follow. Tabloids write articles in favour of stricter immigration controls, harsher sentencing for prisoners and less European interference in British affairs, among other things, because those views reflect what their readership thinks. If they kept writing stories with which their readers disagreed then circulation would head south.

Exactly the same with Gordon Brown. The papers didn’t force the public to dislike the man. He did that all by himself. He would have lost the election with or without The Sun’s backing and even if he hadn’t been criticised in other newspapers over the years. You can’t polish a turd; Labour backed a dud who was allowed to usurp a proven winner and the party reaped what it sowed.

Richard – Why not respond with something other than the typical Labour smearing comments and play the ball not the man? If I hadn’t been a Labour voter my whole life why would I say I was? Despite a huge majority, the way the party treated the poor and rewarded the rich in the last 13 years is hardly something to be proud of. Perhaps you are.

Unquestioning individuals like you do Labour no favours and result in the likes of Wheelan, McBride, Draper and Brown having influence in a once creditable party.

For doing the coalition’s job by reminding people like me that my Lib Dem vote wasn’t wasted I say well done Richard.

Stay insulting and keep convincing “Middle England” to never vote for Labour again – the party of wars and big business seem perfect for an individual with your unattractive views…

“Of course newspapers take on causes and try to influence opinion. But you’re deluded if you think that they shape more than they follow.”

It’s an argument often heard, but one that strikes me as completely false; a justification for what the papers are doing and little else. Whenever you come across somebody – either at work, in the pub, or wherever – who bangs on about Muslims, immigrants or other tabloid pet subjects, it is telling that they always copy the tabs phraseology to a tee. You hear arguments and ‘facts’ that are lifted wholesale from stories that have appeared in print. Not an original thought to be found. These are not people who’ve made up their own mind first and then picked the paper to go with it, these are people who have been led to believe by the papers that certain things are true by continual repeptition of the same narrative. Like Gillian Duffy, who attempted to express the tabloids’ standpoints but didn’t manage to get it entirely correctly because they weren’t her own thoughts, she was just trying to repeat what she’d been taught.

I find it more telling that the self-proclaimed left wing intelligentsia (certainly something of a misnomer) caricature those who have grave concerns about mass immigration, a dependency culture or the EU’s creep towards federalism as tabloid readers, incapable of forming their own opinions.

You’re probably right that some people fall into that category, but it would be unwise to think, condescendingly, that most do, less still all of them.

Gillian Duffy is a good example of a victim of this misplaced intellectual snobbery. A core Labour voter, with a mind and a vote, dismissed as a bigot by an arrogant man who was supposed (and was, in fact, paid) to represent her. Under the glare of the mass media, hungry for news in the middle of an election campaign, she may not have come across as the most eloquent of people; she may even have resorted to tabloid-speak, should memorable phrases have sprung to mind while the cameras pointed at her. But her concerns were legitimiate and her sentiments genuine.

Shame on a party, supposedly formed to represent the interests of the working classes, for turning on one of their own.

It’s a convenient delusion to convince yourself that people think a certain way because the papers tell them to. It’d be healthier, in the long run, simply to accept that not everyone subscribes to The Guardian’s world view. Thank goodness for that!