There is a concerted effort on both "sides" of the media to really make this a thing these days. It's weird to me, clearly some real effort going into it from the people who pay for these opinions.
I can only guess that the pay-click model has proved that people are really invested in the anti-"woke" model and it's one of the few things making money. I guess it allows people to embrace prejudice and all that
I always think the real litmus test on this stuff is when you see retired relatives & see what they want to talk about. Early in the year i got the "so what do you think about all this woke shite" which meant that it must be big on the Daily Mail app
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Re the article, no reason to doubt it's validity, lord knows this stuff is everywhere and fucking borin
It's interesting that the Independent is still framed in that article as being part of the "left" media, mind, when Lebedev has owned it for a few years now and its not even an actual newspaper anymore. May as well try and frame Buzzfeed news as part of the conversation. Maybe they have- there's no full detail on who they're actually deriving the statistics from? I couldn't think of ten national papers.
Considering there are really only 3 "left" newspapers left - Granuaid, the Mirror & the Star (is the Star even a paper) - i think Mr Goodwin has effectively revealed his sources with this little paragraph run-
An alternative and not necessarily inconsistent explanation is that the ideological gravity in British media newsrooms is —much like universities— on the move. After giving a talk at a conference in France, I was recently told by senior journalists at a major British newspaper that some of their junior colleagues —many of whom have come straight out of Oxbridge, from extremely privileged backgrounds— simply do not see themselves as objective journalists who are in the game to pursue truth.
Instead, they complained, their junior colleagues see themselves as deeply ideological ‘activists’ who want to use their positions of influence to preach their politics, spread the word, and ‘cancel’ perceived dissenters or nonconformists who refuse to adhere to the orthodoxy (as symbolised by the George Eaton scandal). In turn, they are making newsrooms far more moralistic, divisive, biased, and uncomfortable —something that we have all been able to witness now that social media has pulled back the curtain.
That can only be one paper in this country. I still look at the Guardian as they have the best football writing and the cleanest website but the commentary is an abomination, and a very clear split between two schools of thought, as above. Unless this is to be read the other way and it's moderate Tories concerned about mental rich kids who hate everything that isnt uber-right? I doubt it
Typed too much here but let's be honest, woke commentary/distaste is where the money is now. Everyone's bored of covid, no doubt critical gender theory will dominate the next 12 months.
Its fucking weird all this. And really dull as well