Both sides of the “story” explained. The BBC’s view, The Sun’s hypocrisy, The attitude of the Police

I know that most readers and followers prefer short summaries of breaking news events. This piece will, therefore, give you clear and accurate information in a totally fair and balanced way.

At the moment, both the mainstream media and social media are awash with comment, most are either very pro-Huw Edwards or aggressively anti-Huw Edwards. Few give any true balance of the facts. Search engines are showing over 749,000 results.

The following video is 49 minutes long and is worth watching for its factual and balanced content. Unlike many others, it gives two sides of the developing story. However, I will summarise the main points for those readers and followers who want a quick but accurate summary.

Why The Sun Appeals to the Chattering Classes and Woke Society.

The Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch, gives its readers what they want. Short blunt pieces of journalism which support the established views of its readers. With a catchy, though not always accurate, headline. As a well-known BBC presenter, Huw Edwards, with rumours of his sex life circulating, was an obvious target for The Sun. Their coverage of the scandal fitted well with Rupert Murdoch’s hatred of the BBC.

Not everyone is bigoted, of course, but readers of The Sun, and indeed the other tabloid newspapers, seem to have fixed views and do not see the other side of a story. If sex or racism is involved, so much the better.

The Sun is a business first and foremost, balanced and accurate news is secondary.

As a private company, it makes money from selling newsprint and from the revenue it receives from its advertisers.

The BBC, a public broadcaster, owned by the State, has the duty of providing news without bias. Although it is technically independent of the Government of the day, it is often accused of favouring a political party. Sometimes the Government; sometimes the main Opposition party.

Some historical cases where the mainstream media have been dishonest in their reporting.

The most famous example of deliberate misreporting was The Sun’s coverage of the 15 April 1989 football tragedy at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England. 96 people died and hundreds were injured. The ages of the dead ranged from 10 to 67 years old.

The editor, Kelvin MacKenzie, personally wrote the headline, The Truth, and blamed the Liverpool fans attending the game.

According to his newspaper, drunken youths were urinating on the pitch, stealing from corpses, and hindering police and rescue workers. (The Sun did not mention that it’s perfectly normal for unintended urination to occur when you are in situations like this).

The reality was that the police had ushered more and more people into the stadium and then closed the gates to prevent any exit. To cover up their own failings, they did nothing to dispel the newspaper’s version of events.

It was only in 2012, 23 years later, that an independent enquiry told the general public what really happened and who was to blame. The coroner’s verdict was of unlawful killing. Chief Constable, Norman Bettison, resigned but received an 83k annual pension! Maria Eagle, an English member of parliament, was instrumental in bringing new evidence to light, using parliamentary privilege to avoid being sued for slander against the police.

The Sun had a circulation of 4 million in the UK in 1989, with readers in London and the home counties lapping up the newspaper’s every word. Liverpool readers knew the reality and started a boycott which to a limited extent continues to this day. There are newsagents in Liverpool who will not stock The Sun.

The police tipped off the BBC that they were going to raid Cliff Richard’s home in search of pornographic material. The famous pop star was on holiday abroad at the time. The BBC hired a helicopter to take photos of the raid.

No such material was found but Cliff Richard felt uneasy living in a home that the police had ransacked and later sold the property.

The police eventually dropped the case and paid the entertainer substantial damages.

Hypocrisy in Our Woke Society.

Where should the line be drawn? Should the media be allowed to print alleged scandals, using the excuse that it’s in the public interest that people should be kept informed of such events? Or, should they respect the privacy of famous people when they are in their own homes?

Can the media justify their actions, which are sometimes illegal, by claiming they are only giving readers what they clearly want to read. By printing scandals and pornography, media owners increase their profits.

We will go deeper into this in the second part of this article.