Lying Newspapers-Bad?

http://www.britishpapers.co.uk/redtops/daily-sport/



The dictionary terms lying as to “make a deliberate falsehood” (Collins English Dictionary, 2006, p.340).

“Don’t believe everything you read” is probably something everyone has heard, or even found themselves saying at some point. This is often in relation to newspapers and the stories they print. So it seems that it is commonly accepted that we are lied to by newspapers. Is this not a bad thing?

I can fully understand why certain people might read newspapers such as “The Sport” or “The Sun” etc. They are generally easy to read as the vocabulary contained within them is often limited and of a simplistic nature. Pictures, often of semi exposed women, regularly break up the bulk of text, which is frequently presented with a twist or play on words within its particular headline. This makes for an altogether more light-hearted, and uncomplicated read.

However! Newspapers have, and continue to repeatedly lie to us. Whether we know and accept this or whether we are blissfully unaware of it. This cannot be good; I would go as far as to say that many, if not most newspapers are ‘being very bad.’ Why should we accept that, although we live in a society which is built on the idea of good morals, such as telling the truth, the people who are writing public information, regardless of its genre, should be allowed to flaunt those basic principles and tell bare faced lies?

Finally though, as ‘bad’ as I believe newspapers to be for lying, maybe it is we, the general public, who are in error for continuing to buy and read such misinformation as we do. Maybe it our own ‘bad’ judgement and often lack of regard for the truth that keeps us going back to the newsagents for our preferred dose of daily untruth.


Bibliography

HarperCollins. (2006) Collins English Dictionary. Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers.