Offended By Verbatim Reporting? Go F--- Yourself!

Fox 5 anchor Ernie Anastos stuns viewers with four-letter 'chicken' gaffe - Telegraph

It's not the story, or the reporting of it. They're fine.

It's the"f---ing".

Even at the end, right next to "plucking".

The Telegraph fears - no doubt rightly - that some readers will be offended by the word "fucking", even in a story about a man saying the word "fucking".

It believes - wrongly - that these people should be protected from the profound psychological consequences of choosing to read a story with the phrase "four-letter" in the headline.

So, who's chicken now?

You Couldn't Make Littlejohn Up

It's been covered better elsewhere, but I can't ignore Richard Littlejohn's Mail Online piece that takes a snide pop at a black single mother.

"There’s no mention of a Mr Pong, or any father’s name for that matter. "
- Richard Littlejohn

Note the oh-so-clever plausibly deniable racism.

The punchline? Oh yes. The mother is a labrador!

Yes, the country is being overrun by a tide of workshy immigrant puppies. What? Littlejohn shot first and asked questions later? Surely not?

Well, no - as usual, he just shot. The only development is that he shot this particular load over the wrong species.

All together now; "You Couldn't Make It Up!"

The A Files

UFOs photographed over London - Telegraph ( Sarah Knapton )

Yeah, nice one, Sarah. Real scoop, that. I mean, they don't look anything like reflections of the light fitting behind the photographer, do they?

Oh, and a special mention for the caption, "...shows four UFO's (sic.)" Don't worry about it, guys; it's only the Daily Bloody Telegraph, right?

The "Get Paula Murray Fired" Campaign

Can't really cover this one any better... so I won't bother.

Bloggerheads (UK) - Paula Murray, drunken hack, mocks dead and makes light of underage drinking

Glinner - Express wins race to the bottom

Strictly this isn't a net story, but the reaction to it certainly is. As a clued-up 2.0 citizen, you've no doubt read loads about it all by now, so all I'll add is; please just pop along and sign the online petition, blog or tweet the stories, and do anything else you can think of to help get this odious bitch fired.

You Know it, You Know... Makes Sense.

BBC SPORT | Rugby Union | Welsh | Wales confident of Jones fitness

Hmm... This post could have gone onto any of the three 'blogs I currently write! But it's best here, I think.

It highlights recent problem with journalism, not exclusive to the BBC. What is happening is that certain sources get quoted without the most basic editing - to, you know, remove hesitation and, like, repetition and 'verbal punctuation' and, you know, stuff.

Wales rugby team manager Alan Phillips is quoted thus:

"Niggles you know, nothing that worries us you know because we've got the two-week window now before the first game," Phillips added.

"So we've got plenty of time to rest one or two of them, to you know repair them."

I'm worried because it appears, to this reader, as if journos can and do deploy this tactic selectively, where an agenda exists to portray the subject poorly. I specifically remember Glenn Hoddle - then the under-pressure coach of the England soccer team - being quoted "At the end of the day, I never said them things..."

Of course, hacks can always fall back on the defence of verbatim - it's the whole truth, so what's the problem? Well that's fine, so long as they be shown to treat authority, royalty, and current or potential patrons with the same candour...

Grocer's Apple's

BBC NEWS | Technology | Apple's first Macintosh turns 25

Not a bad piece in itself, but...

OFFS!, as we say on the Arpanet.

"Damaging our Culture"

"Swearing Now The Blight Of Britain" squawks the Daily Express, both online and from the newsstands.

Within the very first paragraph of this "report" comes the admission that "the vast majority" of Brits actually couldn't give a flying fuck.

Yes, folks; the single biggest problem facing Britain today, doesn't affect the vast majority of us. The offended parties freely admit that they're in a tiny minority.

You might think you're having trouble paying the mortgage, or that your job is insecure. You might worry if you'll ever get on the housing ladder, now that it appears to be a greased pole. You could even be a bit concerned about our foreign wars, third-world public transport provision, or illiterate university students.

Well, open your eyes, you fools! Esther Rantzen is not happy! We're all heading for fire & brimstone with our potty-mouthed ways, and that's the real issue!

The Daily Express. We stand for being clueless twats.