this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2025
14 points (81.8% liked)

World News

38278 readers
209 users here now

News from around the world!

Rules:

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
top 6 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] SaraTonin@lemmy.world 3 points 12 hours ago

Okay, so firstly, they start talking about “Western media”, and then only talk about US media.

It’s characterisation of the media as state media is simplistic and misses the headline - the outside influence the media has on the state. Rupert Murdoch explicitly said that he got involved with the media in the US and UK in order to influence politics. There are any number of examples of something being featured on Fox News and Trump talking about it the next day.

Here in the UK the Labour government just announced their new immigration policy. Its biggest aim is to stop people crossing the channel in small boats. The biggest opposition party, Reform’s entire platform is based around stopping small boats. The previous government’s immigration policy for more than a decade was based around stopping small boats.

Illegal immigration is a tiny fraction of immigration. People entering the country in small boats is a tiny fraction of illegal immigration. And illegal immigration itself is overcounted because there are currently no legal routes into the country for asylum seekers, making all asylum seekers illegal immigrants by definition.

So, why have politicians been forming their policy around this one inconsequential issue rather than trying to form more meaningful and effective policy? Because the front pages of the daily newspapers have had small boat stories for years. It’s deliberately been turned into an issue by the press, which has forced politicians to look like they are “doing something”.

The traffic between media and politics isn’t just one way, of course, but it’s a lot more reciprocal and complex than this empty ideological rant would have you believe. And it’s probably fair to say that the press has more influence over the state than the state has over the press, at least in the UK.

Tony Blair, for example, purposefully spent time wooing Murdoch because he knew he couldn’t get elected as Prime Minister without The Sun on side.

It’s ironic that this piece about the lies of the media is itself rather devoid of accurate reporting and is instead knowingly or unknowingly full of falsehoods in order to ideologically persuade its readers.

[–] Four_mile_circus@lemmy.ml 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Western media replies, “It never happened; Russians have always been enemies of the Western world.”

As someone who consumes a great deal of Western media, I have never heard this claim anywhere, from anyone, before now.

And "the Communist Revolution was secretly funded by the West to sabotage the glory of Imperial Russia" is also something I've never heard, but is certainly one of the takes of all time.

[–] CyberMonkey403@lemmy.ml 6 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

the Communist Revolution was secretly funded by the West to sabotage the glory of Imperial Russia” is also something I’ve never heard,

Really? "Lenin is a German/British/[insert enemy]" spy has been a conspiracy for decades, pretty much since 1917 itself. It's especially popular in Russia. Putin himself proclaimed that "Lenin has laid a landmine under Russia" in an official speech. I don't know how you haven't heard that one.

[–] Four_mile_circus@lemmy.ml 3 points 8 hours ago

Probably because I don't live in Russia or follow Russian media. Anyway, TIL a new conspiracy theory 😆

[–] AreaKode@lemmy.world 6 points 23 hours ago

War is peace.

[–] Tyrq@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 22 hours ago

This whole affair has been double plus not good