Because it doesn’t have to, that’s why. And if you don’t believe me – here is the Saturday Review from 1861:
What does it matter if the Times, which is the organ of so many of us, contradicts itself and changes sides from day to day? Do not most people contradict themselves?
Is the opinion we form this morning on the telegram which arrives from Paris so necessarily true or fixed that it may not be shaken tomorrow?
Men learn their intelligence from hour to hour, and they must generalize upon it as it arrives. The process of reflection and digestion goes on in public.
Postscript: BTW, in case you wonder what minor Victorian quibble the Times was flip-flopping over, it was British intervention in the American Civil War…
(“Leading journals, from the London Times to the Saturday Review and Punch, either sneer at the North or urge the claims of the rebels to the independence which they pretend to seek…” Harper’s, June 1861)
(“[C]onsider the London press! At its head stands the Times, whose leading editor, Bob Lowe, was formerly a demagogue in Australia, where he agitated for separation from England. He is a subordinate member of the Cabinet, a kind of minister for education, and a mere creature of Palmerston.” Karl Marx, Die Presse, 1861)
2 responses to “Ever wondered why the news doesn’t makes sense?”
I recently discovered your blog thru Journalism.co.uk. Your posts touch interesting topics with quirky, catchy headers which I enjoy reading for the decent nuggets of intelligence, which as a student of journalism, I might find useful one day (no sarcasm intended). But I am frequently disappointed by your ‘excert’ style of writing that leaves me wondering ‘what is the context? Why has he written that? What’s his point?’
Care to respond? mukymunky@yahoo.co.uk or wwwpullthepin.blogspot.com
Apologies for the elliptical stuff. It comes from writing on the train. And writing a book. I’ll try to make more sense.