I DESPAIR AT THE DEATH OF REAL JOURNALISM

No objectivity, no impartiality, no fairness

By Mark Sharman

ALLOW ME to begin this piece on a personal note. After 56 years in journalism, mostly in television, I despair at the state of our industry, the overwhelming bias, the poisonous name-calling, the vilification of individuals who dare to offer a different opinion; in short the death of objective reporting and impartiality.

Both Dr Aseem Malhotra and the MP Andrew Bridgen have been given the full salvo in recent days, for trying to raise concerns over the safety of Covid jabs, Bridgen losing the Conservative whip in the process.

Just look at this headline from The Times, once the gold standard of broadsheets:

It is so ludicrous an idea that, if it weren’t so serious, it would be funny. Who are these mysterious gangs, lurking in the shadows? And who unearthed them?

Apparently the information came from ‘those involved in the Government’s ‘vaccine’ roll-out (no names, but hardly an objective source). ‘They’ said Mr Bridgen’s case was a classic example of “radicalisation” by anti-vaxxers who operate like “grooming gangs”. The report went on to say that Bridgen “had shared posts by notorious anti-vaxxers, including Mike Yeadon, the former Pfizer executive”.

Look at the language. Radicalisation has connotations of terrorism, grooming gangs of child abuse. And the term anti-vaxxers is an invention, coined to smear anyone who has genuine doubts about the safety and effectiveness of these inoculations. Also, The Times could have been more honest about ‘Mike Yeadon’.

He’s actually Doctor Yeadon and the former Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer (Allergy & Respiratory Research) with Pfizer, with a distinguished career in drug research and discovery. But of course that would have given him more credibility.

Reporter Mario Ledwith leads his story with: “After weeks of witnessing Andrew Bridgen espouse increasingly bizarre opinions about Covid-19, the Conservative Party’s patience snapped on Wednesday when he compared the virus vaccination programme to the Holocaust.”

Wrong.

Mr Bridgen said it was the biggest crime since the Holocaust. There was no comparison and not the slightest hint of anti-semitism, of which Bridgen was accused. And who is Mr Ledwith to declare – as fact – that Bridgen’s opinions are ‘increasingly bizarre’?

For good measure, Ledwith throws in a quote from Lord Bethell of Romford, a former health minister who led the Government’s response to Covid testing (again, a man with a position to defend):

“It’s sickening to see anti-vaxxers targeting vulnerable people with their loopy conspiracy theories.”

Detailed scientific evidence is accumulating worldwide about ‘vaccine’ harm, including thousands of deaths, and to dismiss them as loopy conspiracy theories is scandalous from a government and a media supposed to be serving the people.

I challenge Mr Ledwith, Lord Bethell and any other government source to attend the Truth Be Told rally in London this Saturday. There they can meet ‘vaccine’-injured people, hear their heart-breaking stories and understand the enormous scale of the damage caused by jabs, which are neither safe nor effective.

The Guardian was at it too, deciding without question that Dr Malhotra’s claims were false:

It’s high time these newspapers remembered what proper journalism is supposed to do – examine evidence, fairly, from both sides to make a fair judgment. It’s unacceptable to act as judge, jury and executioner based on government propaganda.

The BBC meanwhile, continues to ignore its Royal Charter, which was established to guarantee its independence.                                                                                                 

Consider the words of Tony Roe, the BBC East Midlands Political Editor, when interviewing Bridgen about losing the Conservative Whip.

Roe to Bridgen: “But the evidence you speak of, it’s been fact checked and proven to not be accurate. Your arguments have been debunked by scientists, they’ve been debunked by the Department for Health.

“Why don’t you take yourself off and speak to the experts …. so you can understand where you may have gone wrong. Because they are saying you are wrong.”

Roe then Tweeted this:

Fact-checked. Impartial? Trustworthy? Make up your own mind.

The Spectator

And if you need a further insight, consider the words of a BBC insider, writing under a pseudonym in The Spectator. Under the headline The Problem With The BBC’s Reporting on Excess deaths, he, she or they say:

“It should go without saying that BBC health reporters must not present unsubstantiated assertions as facts in their reports. But throughout the pandemic they did just that. Exaggerated claims about the efficacy of masks and ‘vaccines’ to stop transmission of the coronavirus were repeated without any meaningful interrogation.

“Regrettably, as is the case with many liberal media outlets, the BBC’s ‘disinformation’ reporting has become a selective and somewhat political exercise in debunking claims that don’t chime with the worldviews of editors.”

Yes, I despair.

PS: IF mainstream media want to run a story on ‘conspiracy theorists’, maybe they should interview world eminent cardiologist Professor Abdullah Alabdulgader…