Thursday, 7 May 2020

Peston and pals: The Fake News Party

Ever listened to Robert Peston, Laura Kunnesberg and Beth Rigby and thought that something didn’t sound quite right?  Well, your gut instinct isn't playing tricks on you. Listen closely and you’ll hear them repeat the same overtly political messages, targeted precisely to worry and scare the British public into thinking and ultimately voting their way.
(C) Daily Mail
Coincidentally, what comes out of the mouth of the Labour Party front bench one week, is regurgitated by this fake news trio the next.  Blurring the boundary between journalism and politics, they’re the mumbling mouthpieces of the moralising liberal elite.  Who can fail to forget their Brexit bashing, austerity carping and Labour loving rhetoric of recent years?

(C) Wikipedia
Take Polly Peston’s question last week to Prime Minister Boris Johnson at his first Coronavirus briefing after nearly a month fighting the illness. Peston presented as fact that the UK could have ‘the worst or among the worst deaths from Coronavirus’.  His less than effusive ‘welcome back’ to a man who was at death’s door a matter of weeks ago, confirmed the real intention behind his question: to use emotionally charged bombshells to shock the public into believing that the UK government isn’t doing its job property.

(C) Wikipedia
Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer, smacked down Peston by pointing out that comparing numbers of those who died in each country from COVID-19 alone is not the model agreed upon by the  UK scientific community. He added that it's best to take a view when the pandemic is over. Undeterred by the mathematical and scientific facts, Rigby repeated yesterday the same untruth about the UK’s ranking among its European neighbours, all the while knowing full well that Italy and Spain’s figures exclude those dying in care homes.

Worse still,  Peston asked recently a question about whether the government will 'bring back austerity' and cuts to public services. If that’s not politically laden, what is?  His gotcha moment went ungotcha’d, as the Prime Minister confirmed that won't be his approach. Boris cleverly called-out Peston’s politically poisoned message saying that, “I've never particularly liked the term that you've just used [austerity] to describe government economic policy.” 

One week they’re clamouring for a road map out of the lockdown.  The next, when the government announces what they've have been asking for, lefty Laura and bolshy Beth accuse them of worrying the populous and sending out mixed messages!
(C) Broadband TV News
Kunnesberg, Rigby, Peston: they and their elitist media pals are all the same. Like a political party, this triumvirate of fake news representatives are on-message daily, dressing up their own brand of opinion based journalism as gospel truth. 
(C) Press Gazette
They don’t care about reporting fact. Working like a creepy cartel, they seek to undermine government by setting the daily news agenda and unscrupulously changing tack when their demands are met.  On Brexit, the General Election and now the Coronavirus pandemic - it's the same old story.  Peddlers, not of fact, but fake news.  The Fake News Party...