Meet Katie Glass. She is yet another taker of the Murdoch shilling, and might have remained no more than moderately well-known, until she decided - merely by coincidence, you understand - to put the boot in on Channel 4 News lead presenter Jon Snow. He had, she claimed, been jolly rotten to her when she was just starting out.
Katie Glass
Benefiting from the allegedly upmarket megaphone given her by the Sunday Times, she told “As a cub reporter, new to London, I once approached him nervously at a National Portrait Gallery party. He was dismissive and rude, ridiculing me in front of his female fans for not recognising a portrait of the former Venezuelan leader, Hugo Chavez … ‘If he was a singer in a rock band called Up your Jumper, you’d know who he is,’ he said, pleased to have embarrassed a girl 30 years younger, and 30 times poorer, than him”.
Evening all
Why a young woman calls herself “a girl” appears rather incongruous, but hey ho. Ms Glass may want to give the impression of being objective, but her shoddy research and partisanship soon give the game away, starting with an attack on new intake Labor MP Laura Pidcock. “How would [Ms] Pidcock respond to someone spouting such offensive nonsense towards any other group? She’d (rightly) call it hate speech”. Er, hello?
Laura Pidcock said that she would not socialise with Tory MPs, not that she wouldn’t talk to them, or work with them. Then comes her smear of the Labour Party over Manchester councillor Amina Lone. “Look how [she] has been treated by her own side after daring to speak out against the abuse of children by grooming gangs. She has been barred from standing for re-election after seven years on the council because of her ‘outspoken’ campaigning for gender equality within the Muslim community”.
And to that I say baloney. Amina Lone was barred from standing as a result of her poor attendance. She was given the benefit of due process, including an appeal, a process which started some time ago. Unless Ms Glass - or any other hack - has information to the contrary, they should not be making assumptions just because they fit her agenda.
It gets worse: Ms Glass also told “Still, hearing [Ms] Pidcock reminded me why I’d rather be friends with Conservatives [OH WHAT A GIVEAWAY]. Tories always get their round in [gratuitous money smear: check!] and are much less judgmental, partly because they are so much more confident about their own views”.
As writer and campaigner Jack Monroe has pointed out, this “less judgmental” and “confident in their own views” combination gave her the benefits of “Michael Portillo telling me ‘I shouldn't have bred’, on a national TV programme”, the joy of seeing “IDS sniggering in Parliament while a member of the public told assembled MPs that she hadn't eaten for days”, and the never to be forgotten experience of hearing “David Amess comparing lesbianism to paedophilia to a group of schoolchildren”.
Could it get worse still? It certainly could. Katie Glass is also so objective and even-handed that those she admires include, er, Katie Hopkins. I kid you not: this has brought forth such Twitter gems as “oh i dunno, I should have read more Katie Hopkins” and “Katie Hopkins?! She's a sweetie really”. The Final Solution is such a sweet idea, isn’t it?
It certainly doesn’t stop Ms Glass going yet further in support of her idol, and doling out a little partisan kicking on the way: “Show me pictures of Hopkins! They don’t offend me. What does is lib censorship”. Murdoch shilling taker stock response - liberal equals leftie equals authoritarian equals intolerance equals Very Bad People.
And what also comes in the list of Murdoch gofer characteristics is that total lack of self awareness: “Instead of trying to silence Katie Hopkins, the real issue is why so many people feel this way”. Oooh, now, let me think … it wouldn’t have anything to do with the way certain parts of the press frame issues, would it? Including the Murdoch press?
Katie Glass isn’t a mere disinterested bystander. She’s a highly partisan hack who has no problem in dispensing with some facts, twisting others, not bothering with the most basic of research, or indeed, cosying up to the far right when it suits her. She is quoted approvingly by propagandists at CCHQ. But she can now consider herself a hero of the right-wing press - albeit a disposable one when the Murdochs get fed up running loss making papers.
As for investigative journalism - that’s so old and Guardian, isn’t it? Pass the sick bucket.
Merely demonstrates London has an inexhaustible supply of dickheads for Murdoch/Rothermere to live off. There'll always be people ready to sell themselves for the next mortgage payment.
ReplyDeleteSnow is indeed an arsewipe - he once referred on air to London as "a blessed place" - but even he pales into insignificance compared to Murdoch/Rothermere creeps.
Ultimately the aggregate difference is minimal. All of them have played a part in the destruction of media decency. Restoring it will take decades.
Just read the interview of Katie Glass here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vuelio.com/uk/blog/journalist-spotlight-katie-glass-columnist-for-the-sunday-times/
Christ. It's like the younger sister of Private Eye's Polly Filler.
ReplyDeleteOh dear! Ms Glass likes Tories and writes "Tories always get their round in and are much less judgmental....."
says Ms Glass being judge, jury amd executioner.
Judging others thru the Tory prism and then spouting about it usually shows the person is both tin eared and stupid.
Colin the Bat
That photo of Snow......Why's he wearing a drug dealer shiney suit?
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteWikipedia offers the following:
Katie Glass (born 1943) is a retired professional wrestler, better known by her ring name "Diamond Lil".[2]