What is news?
The word news is derived from North, East, West, and South, therefore covering all points of the compass. There used to be two types of news - good news, and bad news. Anything that fell outside of these definitions was usually called propaganda. Now, apparently, we have three types of news - good news, bad news and fake news.
Where you source your news from is extremely important. News used to come in two forms: spoken and written. The Romans used to post daily headlines in a town’s Square. In 1066 town criers are thought to have come to the fore when news of William of Normandy’s invasion was known. The important factor in both of these forms of communication is that they were from a known source – whereas nowadays it is difficult to determine the authenticity of any news report. Also, some news stories are not news at all. My American relative used to refer to these as global gossip. There are also problems in reporting the news due to the restrictions placed upon journalists in respect of censorship, political correctness and wokeism!
Where do you source your news from? It appears that most of us get our breaking news from our mobile phones or tablets and, of course, there is social media where anyone, it would appear, using the right platform, can express an opinion or give their view. As I have often said, opinions/views are like ****, everybody has one! The problem with views on social media is they very quickly separate into two groups - positive or negative, right or wrong - and this polarises opinion and makes the silent majority not just silent but invisible.
Where you source your news from is important because it colours your views and informs your opinions. Personally, when I listen to the news, it is once a day at night from the BBC and every weekend I buy a newspaper that has many sections, at least one of which I don’t read and immediately recycle. I use these to inform me so at least I have an opinion and, wherever possible, I discuss these with family members or others to help form my view.
When I write this column, we check our facts using our preferred search engine and then try to check the facts with reference books (yes, reference books)! Those of you who are old enough to remember ‘News at 10 from ITN’ (Independent Television News) with Alastair Burnett and Reginald Bosanquet will remember the last item was always something of a good news story.
If we refer again to fake news this, in fact, is lies, propaganda or mistruths and it is spread by people who do not check their facts. This is not a new phenomenon as during the late 1800s and early 1900s, the great stagecoach era, Stony Stratford was a Buckinghamshire town almost equal distance between London and Birmingham and Oxford and Cambridge respectively. It was an important stopover point for travellers and the two main coaching inns were called The Cock and The Bull and both became known throughout the country as the centre of all news travelling either on foot or by horse. The competing inns established a rivalry as to which could produce the most exciting and scurrilous tales to be passed on to the major cities. As a result, many unbelievable stories were dismissed as Cock and Bull stories (ref: Red Herrings and White Elephants by Albert Jack).
So, fake news is nothing new. Always try to check facts or the sources.
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About the contributor
Stan Atkins
CEO
BICSc