Lazy Journalism 101

Lazy journalists. You can’t blame them really. You have a choice of doing your job properly or doing it in half the time and telling a more appealing story. When a celeb comes to town- it’s a windfall. Loads of stories about nothing. Just pedal whatever they want to say and you’re on easy street.

Look at an example of lazy journalism. Pretty mild compared to what’s on the horizon- but this is just a taster.

Click here to watch BBC report.

 

TV chef tackles Rotherham

Let’s start with the headline. You tackle something that’s bad- like a burglar or a winger cutting in to shoot at your goal. Rotherham- the object of the verb- is clearly bad news.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has visited Rotherham to try to address the town’s obesity problems.

That’s not why he was in town at all- but we’ll get to that in a minute. There is a clear suggestion that we have obesity problems specific to our town. If you look at the facts (not an Oliver strong point) you will see another picture.

The YORKSHIRE & HUMBER PUBLIC HEALTH OBSERVATORY prepared a major study on obesity in Yorkshire and Humber in 2003. They found that both men and women from the region ranked as fourth highest in England in terms of the percentage who were overweight and obese (Body Mass Index over 30). On obesity alone, Yorkshire and Humber were #1, but Rotherham  was way down in eighth place when is was broken down into areas. Why are we getting tackled?

Quick-To the pictures. Jamie cutting the ribbon to open his Ministry of Food. Only, he isn’t. The date is 13th May 2008 and we all know the occupation HQ didn’t open until 23rd June. Who cares about facts eh? It’s only a bit of fun.

Jamie explains what it’s all about. Well he says “recipe” and “local” a lot and then admits he doesn’t really know what he’s going to be doing. He also looks uncannily like Boris Johnson.

“Jamie was inspired by these infamous pictures”

Praise the Lord. Don’t worry – you won’t usually have to wait thirty seconds to see the infamous pictures. The mums, or in Jamie’s words “old slappers” giving their kids some hot food (not McDonalds and not for profit as Jamie claimed at the time). In October, you will be seeing these pictures in every paper and on every TV news show as the marketing machine swings into action. This kind of stuff actually went on all over the country.

The Times reported:

“So huge was the resistance that take-up of school dinners fell by as much as 24%. At Ealdham primary in Greenwich the head teacher Sally Castle saw parents at the school gate with McDonald’s Happy Meals. “In the early days the children would be in tears and the parents were very angry and upset,” Castle said.

So the Rawmarsh situation was part of a national trend. Someone pointed a camera at people it was easy to pour scorn on, and suddenly we are, in the words of the BBC:

“the town of food sin”

The thick as pig shit place where we ply our kids with “forbidden” food. This “inspired Jamie”. Although, as you can see from the Channel 4 site, the plan was originally make the show in Southend with members of his family to continue “his one man mission to stop good people eating bad food”. proof here

The meeting where they decided to switch to “the town of food sin” must have been a blast.

Truly inspirational. Totally cynical. Tie it in with an old project and cane those Rawmarsh tapes for comic effect.

“in the town of food sin; Jamie’s finding some disciples”

Disciples see the light. Follow the Messiah out of the darkness.

The two lasses want their works canteen sorting. No deal. Jamie’s Ministry of Food is about what you cook at home. Anyway- neither of them looks obese to me. It may be a bold guess- but I’d put money on them lasses being able to cook for themselves.

Next- Jamie’s target audience. Talks about the people of Rotherham like they are retarded for real. That we wouldn’t think of doing decent things for our kids unless some cock off the telly shows us the way. He is confident that Jamie isn’t talking about him. Some thing MUST be done- about other people.

Now it’s time for the unconverted- BOOOO. They wanted a quick hot meal before they went back to college. Bastards. Close up on that tray of chips. SINNERS. I mean that lass- she seemed perfectly normal and not unhealthy at all. She just fancied some chips. We can’t get people get away with shit like that.

Thank God they get them off and get Jamie back on. He says how great it is to be up here- because we’re all honest. Not like London- where everyone is full of shit. Exhibit A- Jamie Oliver. He also says his “experiment” is “definitely the right thing” – even though he has admitted earlier he does not know exactly what he is doing. “It’s about community”. Eh?

“We will find out if all the people in Rotherham are going to sign up to the food gospel according to Jamie”

This is what is known as a puff piece (an open goal for you). Promote what the celebrity wants. You give him air time to plug his wares- he stoops to appear on your crappy local TV show or in your crappy local paper. There is also the unwritten rule that no one is allowed to oppose anything dressed up as promoting healthy eating or question the motives of the multi millionaire businessman.

The BBC piece is two months old. It is full of holes and guff with not one hint of what used to be called “journalism”. If anything- the reporting of the Ministry of Food has gone down hill since then.

It is up to us to turn the tide. Set the agenda. For once- I want us to do as Jamie says. He says he respects our honesty. Any journalists out there- do an honest day’s work and question people. Look beyond the froth for the real story. If you don’t- you are not a journalist.

The piece portrayed normal Rotherham folk as the enemy and people who come to thank Jamie and bring a load of cookbooks to be signed as normal.

That picture looks wrong to me.

 

No Blackmail.