Diabolical Media

Mithos

beingjdc wrote: »

Whereas I contend that things would be much the same if it were all being kept secret from the poor delicate emotional public.

Without question I agree we should be told. But the media should take some responsibility for the way they report the news. Myself, after reading an article this morning about the Chelsea BS having 55 million invested in Icelandic banks became worried and actually called them, call answered quickly and the person was very calm and reassuring actually taking the time to fill in all the bits the newspaper had "forgotten" to report, namely it was only 1.5% of their liquid assets and they still had 3.5 billion elsewhere!!

beingjdc

Yes - what would help (everyone, including big investors) is if the banks who are broke admitted it, that way when the Chelsea etc truthfully report that the problems won't force them out of business, we can believe them, not assume it's the same "Everything is fine" we've heard 24 hours before bankruptcy from every other financial institution from Northern Rock to Lehman.

superstylin

The question is then; what do we do? Do we stop reading the papers, stop watching the news? It's a bad situation because I for one want to stay informed but I also want an unbiased view without the hype. Does anyone know where we should be looking for the answers? Is this forum the only place of reason?

KorkyKat

I ignore those pox ridden journals. Almost nine tenths of them don't know the real facts. Best bet is go to Google then News Then Last Hour update. You should then be able to pick up the latest reports from Reuters and AP - from where most of the rags gets their information before putting it in front of the smoke and mirrors filter.

Mithos

superstylin wrote: »

The question is then; what do we do? Do we stop reading the papers, stop watching the news? It's a bad situation because I for one want to stay informed but I also want an unbiased view without the hype. Does anyone know where we should be looking for the answers? Is this forum the only place of reason?

YES (IMO). None of us are a bank or building society most are here to save money and help others with that by sharing the knowledge we have.

Media reports are a form of reality "TV", how many stories have we watched unfold before our eyes on TV as the reports come in bit by bit and its reported in a way which is entertaining? Papers have biases and agendas and the articles are constructed in a way to reflect those attitudes.

I honestly believe a collection of people with different beliefs and views and combining different knowledges together creates the best source of factual information. For a lay person anyway

Count_Dante

'The world financial system is teetering on the "brink of systemic meltdown", the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned in Washington.'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7665515.stm

That is not scaremongering, it is a news report about what the head of the IMF had to say. Personally, I think after next week we will probably know whether the economy will gradually recover or implode completely. This is really serious.

beingjdc

I'd suggest Bloomberg and financial blogs, but beware of talking about 'hysteria' - all the way down people I know have been saying "Oh it's not as bad as the media are making out", and then it's got worse.

Sapphire

superstylin wrote: »

The question is then; what do we do? Do we stop reading the papers, stop watching the news? It's a bad situation because I for one want to stay informed but I also want an unbiased view without the hype. Does anyone know where we should be looking for the answers? Is this forum the only place of reason?

Funnily enough, I think this forum is a very good place to look. You get a lot of opinions (from different perspectives) and facts, which enable you to make judgements about situations.

The press really should act in a more responsible way – they are not doing anyone (including themselves) any good by sensationalizing the situation, and by attempting to precipitate runs on perfectly sound institutions. Only a few weeks ago, they were extolling the virtues of the ever-increasing rises in house prices, for God's sake!

Trollfever

The word unprecedented has appeared almost every day in the media for the last year.

Some folks may feel that we are not in the grip of an unprecedented Global Financial Crisis.

.

planemad

Sky News have really griped me recently, they keep recycling the same stories but with different headlines and slightly different wording but its a replica of a story that was run a few days ago and they class it as breaking news. crazy if you ask me.