To what extent can we rely on newspaper reports?

[curious4]

Hello all,

Got the idea for this thread from Sky News this morning, when they posted a headline about a child suicide bomber. From the headline, you would infer that the poor child involved was captured at gun-point wearing a suicide belt, but when the story came up, it seems that the little girl was forced to wear the belt, but refused to cross a river and was taken home again and the belt removed. She subsequently ran away and gave herself up.

I love Sky channel, it is far more entertaining than the BBC world news, but for accuracy I would probably choose the latter, right or wrong.

Were the more entertaining newspapers less accurate? Did their "angling" (not sure that's the right word) of a story distort the facts?

Best wishes,

C4

[lynn cates]

embellishment

Hello Gwyneth. Good question.

I think different papers embellished different amounts. Don't think any published "made from whole cloth" material.

Cheers.
LC

[Scott Nelson]

Totally. They wouldn't print stuff if it wasn't true. Or, if print turns out not to be true, it's because of misinformation or incomplete information. Print doesn't lie.

[MrBarnett]

Hi C4,

I would suggest that while most press reports were/are reasonably reliable, faced with a dearth of information a little journalistic licence is often used to create a usable story.

The following report is from the Portsmouth Evening News, Wednesday 27th May, 1885:

A FATAL QUARREL
A quarrel occurred last evening between two men named William Lock and John Westwood at a public house in East-Ferry Road, Poplar. Westwood challenged Lock to fight, and encouraged by bystanders they did so, when a blow from Westwood struck lock in the centre of the throat, and caused immediate death. Westwood was taken into custody, and will today be charged with manslaughter.

Other, more detailed reports in London newspapers paint a different story:

The incident occurred at 3.30 in the afternoon, not in the evening.

Westwood was seen by a watchman to fall in a drunken stupor on some waste ground and then five minutes later pick himself up and stagger into the road. The watchman did not see Westwood come out of a public house.

At that point Locke and his daughter came along the road, pulling a hawkers cart. Without any words being exchanged, Westwood staggered over to Lock and struck him in the throat. In court Westwood claimed he was drunk and had no recollection of the event.

Unless the witnesses at the inquest were lying, or the London newspapers deliberately skewed their accounts, the provincial newspaper must have inserted some ‘facts’ to pad out the story - in the process changing an unprovoked daylight assault into a pub brawl.

MrB

[GUT]

G’Day Scott

Please tell me you're joking. "They wouldn't print stuff if it wasn't true". Matters I have been involved in have been reported many many times, I am yet to read one totally accurate report modern Newspapers get it wrong all the time, why do you think 1888'2 newspapers were infallible?

GUT

[DRoy]

Curious,

I think you should ask Wickerman & Ben what they think about the press and which ones can most trusted

Cheers
DRoy

[Sally]

The only contemporary publication that can really be trusted is obviously the Morning Advertiser.

Famed for it's accuracy. Honest, Guv.

As for the rest - well...

[Cogidubnus]

Please tell me you're joking. "They wouldn't print stuff if it wasn't true". Matters I have been involved in have been reported many many times, I am yet to read one totally accurate report modern Newspapers get it wrong all the time, why do you think 1888'2 newspapers were infallible?

Hi GUT

I gather they don't teach dry irony round your way any more then

All the best

Dave

[GUT]

G'Day Dave

Sorry my tongue in cheek detector must have been off.

GUT

[lynn cates]

fabrication

Hello GUT. Scott and I are not referring to inaccuracies--they occur constantly.

But the suggestion is that there is no fabrication of a story.

Cheers.
LC

[MrBarnett]

Hi Lynn,

Did you catch my example above? Would you class that as fabrication?

Regards,

MrB

[lynn cates]

no fabrication

Hello MrB. Thanks.

It contains a core of truth. Not terribly accurate AND it is embellished. But it is no fabrication.

Cheers.
LC

[MrBarnett]

Hi Lynn,

But the 'embellishments', small as they may seem, change the nature of the event significantly. In fact, to such an extent that if you were to change the names and location and put the two accounts side by side you would swear you were looking at two entirely different incidents.

The question at the top of this thread is 'To what extent can we rely on newspaper reports'. In this case the answer has to be 'not very far'.

Cheers,


MrB

[lynn cates]

multiple sources

Hello MrB. Thanks.

Not disagreeing.

The best procedure my be to look to multiple sources and cross reference them.

Cheers.
LC

[Wickerman]

But the suggestion is that there is no fabrication of a story.

Hi Lynn.

We do have one example of a fabrication of a story, we talked about it sometime back. It is mentioned in the 'Ultimate", the reporter eventually admitted to the deception.
If you recall, the story involved some woman being robbed of her jewelry down a backstreet off (I think) the Cambridge-heath road? It was published just after the Nichols murder, if I recall...