So often, when the claims of high principles made by those in the Pundit Establishment are tested in the cold light of day, they turn out to be nothing of the sort. And that is as true for TalkRADIO host Julia Hartley Brewer as for many others. Her protestations came from her disinterested view of Leave-backing politicians lying.
We know who you are, thanks
After Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski had been once again caught with trousers alight, David Allen Green put together a Twitter thread on why such things are important (see it HERE). Ms Hartley Dooda decided to wade in, because she knew more about the subject than everyone else, whatever the all too obvious limitations of her knowledge.
“He didn’t know his facts, said something that was blatantly untrue and was then a bit of a dick about it. But to claim it matters this much is laughable. I hear politicians spouting lies and refusing to correct them on most days!” DAG mused “Bless, a perfect example of a pundit admitting that they just shrug when politicians lie to them. We get the politicians, and we get the pundits, we deserve”. That was true enough to hurt.
“As I’ve just told David, I call politicians out on their lies EVERY DAY on my radio show. I’m sure my @talkRADIO listeners can confirm that” countered Ms Hartley Dooda. And after another Tweeter had observed “I am highly entertained that Brexiter vloggers like Julia are reduced to begging the public to stop correcting MPs when they lie to our faces”, she really was angry. Angry enough to tell the world that she was a real journalist, honestly.
“My job as a journalist is to point out when politicians are lying, to ask them to correct their facts and expose them when they don’t. Which is what I do. I can’t actually physically force them to do it. So, yes, ‘journalism’”. But, as she then demonstrated in no style at all this morning on her piss-poor TalkRADIO show, she doesn’t even do that.
Ms Hartley Dooda, as befits someone who claims even-handedness while dispensing terms of routine abuse such as “Remainiacs” and “Remoaners”, had among her guests former Tory leader Iain Duncan Cough. She allowed him to peddle a totally false prospectus on the subject of the so-called Irish Backstop.
Duncan Cough was not saying his solution to the Backstop was a tech solution, but that is what it is. And a simple misunderstanding is creeping in here, as Ros Altmann pointed out: “When interviewing politicians who claim there's a tech solution to Irish border, please ask them why they oppose the backstop. This #backstop is only needed if there ISN'T a tech solution, so what's their problem?” But not a peep from Ms Hartley Dooda.
If Iain Duncan Cough and his pals have a viable tech solution, then why is he banging on about the need to be flexible on the Backstop? That question was not put. Because, whether it was down to her not knowing her subject, bias towards Leave, or a combination of the two, what Julia Hartley Dooda likes to claim, and what she actually delivers in practice, are two very different things. And for the listeners, that’s not good enough.
Behold the shortcomings of the Pundit Establishment. I’ll just leave that one there.
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2 comments:
Odd, isn't it, how far right nutjobs like Hartley-Divvy talk about corrupt politicians but NEVER corrupt corporate media propagandists.
Then again, rent boys and girls NEVER talk publicly about their "clients".
Why would that be?
I'm becoming more and more sure that at this point she really just must be trolling.
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