Women and sex

[LME79]

Dont worry, all news papers are the same - I have never seen a well constructed report on an aviation related matter in any newspaper.. im sure the same goes for snail and animal related reports, therefore probably means journalists nowadays are more worried about selling news papers than delivering real facts.

They have a duty to deliver the facts and they do, it's illegal to just make up stories which is why they have to publish apologies for misquotes and also why we have the Press Complaints Commission. They can get into a lot of bother if they make stuff up.

The spin is what you mean, plus some info can be omitted depending on the political persuasion of the paper and what audience they're communicating to. Of course it's designed to sell newspapers - I imagine it costs millions to print newspapers so while they have a duty to deliver facts, they have a duty to try to sell. The journalists aren't the ones "worried" about selling the papers anyway - that's all for the editor, if I remember correctly. The stuff that is written first and the stuff that actually goes into the paper will be very different. I know all this as I used to work closely with a magazine company, plus my friend is a freelance journalist in Wapping.


What was your opinion on the article, by the way, cf? You didn't actually say.

[PinkBlueBird]

That's just sensationalist silly talk, the same as most of the statistics that the media throws at us.
Though I'm sure there are women out there who have slept with guys for those reasons, I can safely say I'm not one of them.

[captainf]

LME its still absolute rubbish they write and I know that from the aviation side of things. I am not the only one who thinks so.
They deliver facts? I spoke to a guy a few months ago who had a plane crash not far away from where he was walking his dog, he sat holding the pilots hand while talking to him and the passenger while waiting for the emergency services to arrive, shortly after the services arrived both the pilot and passenger died. The newspaper report spoke of how the plane crashed in huge flames - the poor guy who witnessed the crash was very heartbroken and told me there was no fire whatsoever. Effectively the journalist wrote a lie.

As for my opinion on the subject at hand, I dont really have one if im honest. I thought it was of interest to the females here. I mean ultimately as a male I wouldnt know what goes through a female mind and additionally I would be surprised if females did have sex for the sake of it etc but like I say I have no real opinion because i'm not female.

[LME79]

You're not the only one that thinks so but I know that there are regulations in place to ensure that they deliver facts, same way as there are regulations in place to ensure that advertisers do not lie to consumers. Journalists are not allowed to write out and out lies. They can put as much spin as they want on a story, but they do not write out and out lies because they are not allowed to. PCC code is here - http://www.pcc.org.uk/cop/practice.html

[captainf]

When a plane crashes and theres no fire, stating in an article that the plane crashed in flames is a lie.

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

I occasionally read the sun

Me too; one of the lads at work buys it and leaves it in the kitchen - I read it on a rare occasion. If its not the sun it's another one with lots of naked women anyway.

[weatherman78]

I fully agree with the others in that these silly headlines sell papers – plugging a “book” in the same article just brings the point home.

I also do feel there is an element of truth behind it though, maybe not so simple as “having sex with the husband so he takes the rubbish out”, its more likely keeping the bedroom fun alive so that the household runs smoothly.

It also happens vice versa too, where is the report of men “giving it up” when they don’t particularly feel like it, but do it to keep their partner happy? I don’t see that being reported…

On a last note. Sex Sells. Always has, Always will.

Wm x

[Bel Bel]

The thing is if no one confronts the paper about the lie then they don't have to apologise.

Sometimes people just can't be bothered to try get it corrected because usually the apology is buried in a page well into the paper in a tiny little box.

Alot of people don't believe half of whats written and I don't. Also some sources can lie for there own benefit.
Not all journalist can be accused of lying though, it's a few that rpobably tar the rest with a bad name.

Also some papers are more respected than others. There is one paper that prints outrageous lies like "alien gets woman pregnant" I can't remeber th name of it but they are obviously lies. There is no disclaimer on the paper saying "p.s we make up all our stories" so a very small number of people MIGHT actually believe whats written

My friend thinks everything in the papers is all a conspiracy put in place by the government Thats a bit paranoid.

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

My friend thinks everything in the papers is all a conspiracy put in place by the government Thats a bit paranoid.

I think your friend might be going along the right lines.

They put stuff in the paper to cause panic and mass buying..."Oil running out" - in 200 years... "No fuel for winter" - We have a deal with Europe and Norway to ensure we have enough; "need at least 70,000 more barrels of oil to keep up with demand" - we have the deal AND a typical "larger" platform can produce easily 70,000 of oil per day...Plus my knowledge of oil is only ONE company in the North Sea (plus it's not all of the North Sea - we deal with off the coast of Aberdeen) we don't do any other North sea...There is more than one company and they have more than one area of the sea.

[snail]

Well, bad news always sells more papers than good news. The idea is to make people feel that the information is crucial and must be read for their own well-being. Therefore scary stuff is always hyped up. How hyped up depends on the publication - after all, 'media' covers everything from scientific journals, where total impartiality and accuracy is essential for the article to be published, right up to the Daily Sport. This is not a new thing - newspapers have sometimes been criticised for scandal-mongering, misrepresentation, etc for about the last 150 years.

I remember one example of this difference in my own life: I wrote an article on fungal diseases of pet fish for a pond magazine. It covered water gardening in general (plants, ornaments, wildlife etc) and was quite "light". Fungal diseases are not a big worry at all for fishkeepers so I choose a sensible title; opened the magazine when it was published to find the editor had re-named my piece something like "Attack of the Flesh-Eating Diseases".

Around the same time I wrote an article on velvet disease for a fishkeeping magazine - this was much more serious than the pond magazine. Velvet is a totally unique parasitic disease (the organism is part-algae, part-parasite) and quite often fatal, plus I felt in a bit of playful mood, so I called the article "Velvet - The Killer Algae" - opened the copy of the published mag to find the "killer algae" bit had been totally removed. So it's all in the tone of the publication, which is set by the editor, and aimed at a certain section of the reading public.

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

I'd be annoyed if that were me snail.

[Bel Bel]

The daily sport, thats the newspaper i was trying to think of with all the ludicrous stories in - thanks Snail

[snail]

It's part of being a writer, Dips. The editor has the final say on everything. However, as your name is in the by-line, they won't usually change anything substantial without checking with you, as it isn't fair to your reputation.

[everloney]

So none of you ever had sex for any of those reasons? I think im one of the stats, i've had sex to keep the peace, because i was bored and to relieve the stress of my phd, i had a f buddy for that exact reason..... interesting i kinda believe it, not all women but for sure some.

[captainf]

Seems abit weird though to have sex out of being bored.