BBC 'bans' journalists from saying US 'kidnapped' Venezuela's Maduro (www.thenational.scot)
from themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com to world@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 06:51
https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/61132782

#world

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SarahFromOz@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 07:16 next collapse

Newspeak: “In the 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (also published as 1984), by George Orwell, Newspeak is the fictional language of Oceania, a totalitarian superstate. To meet the ideological requirements of Ingsoc (English Socialism) in Oceania, the Party created Newspeak, which is a controlled language of simplified grammar and limited vocabulary designed to reduce a person’s ability to think critically.”

See also: “the officer’s gun discharged” instead of “police shot the man”

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 07 Jan 14:44 next collapse

I remember thinking this aspect of the book was far fetched, but holy shit was he spot on. Language really does inform how we think, and controlling that can be very powerful

partofthevoice@lemmy.zip on 07 Jan 17:28 next collapse

Oh boy… are you opening the door to concept philosophy? Because that’s a fucking mind bender. First big assumption you need to let go of in this domain: mankind is not on some path of iterative progress where we find ourselves at the most knowledgeable and capable in the present. Rather, we’ve conveniently redefined what progress is in the first place.

JasonDJ@lemmy.zip on 08 Jan 06:43 collapse

I always thought Winston’s job, of literally rewriting history, would be an impossible task.

Nowadays? I’m not so sure. When we look at where most of the news comes from in America and follow the money up, you’ve got like 90% of it coming from about a couple dozen people.

Some of those people control LLMs along the way. They control our social media and search engine and what posts and answers and advertisers we see. They control the servers through which most of the internet routes their traffic. They control the certificate authorities that all of our web browsers intrinsically trust. And most of them are friends with each other…or at least keep it cordial.

And they’re patient. They play a long game. Half of them aren’t even middle-aged and are in peak physical health.

Shit even that sounded like a crazy conspiracy theory like 15 years ago, and while I’m being hyperbolic…I’m really not being that hyperbolic.

Gloomy@mander.xyz on 08 Jan 07:14 next collapse

I always thought Winston’s job, of literally rewriting history, would be an impossible task.

They already are getting rid of the history of slavery. Banning it from schools, museums, etc.

Dicska@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 13:00 collapse

Not closely related, but back when I was first reading the book, the idea of computer generated songs sounded like “flying future car” delusions, and learning AI in the early 2000’s even confirmed not the impossibility but the crazy limitations of all this.

I have just listened to a podcast last month that mentions how there are songs on Spotify made entirely by AI, and 97% of the people they asked couldn’t tell apart regular songs from the AI generated ones.

On one hand, it’s remarkable. On the other hand, we’re cooked. What’s even more depressing is that many-many, even more worrying things are getting pretty accurate. Maybe not back in 1984, but we’re witnessing the convergence.

FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca on 08 Jan 08:02 collapse

The gun discharged, unprovoked

ynthrepic@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 07:19 next collapse

Kidnapping is an emotionally loaded term which isn’t used in journalism. Makes sense. Edit: nah I’m wrong. They’d use it for the actual crime of kidnapping.

I hate this shit. We need media to call a spoon a spoon.

Call lies, lies. “Misinformation”, “inaccuracies” “incorrectly said…” Nah fuck that. Trump lied.

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 10:35 next collapse

Spoon? Is that like a symmetrical, dull, parabolic knife?

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 07 Jan 11:54 next collapse

Your MOM’s dull and parabolic, but not symmetrical!

TheBat@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 13:00 next collapse

Duh. Her boobs are not the same size.

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 16:08 collapse

Alright, Sunflower Eriksen, just calm your tits.

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 07 Jan 16:34 collapse

I’ll have you know that my decreasingly ample bosom is in a state of complete relaxation 😁

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 07 Jan 14:45 next collapse

Someone’s never seen a grapefruit spoon

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 16:03 collapse

In truth, I haven’t, but I’m sincerely looking forward to having the nuances of esoteric cutlery and their proscribed use in polite society explained to me, as if in a cotillion class, by someone with the username “prole.”

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 07 Jan 16:04 collapse

Nah, they’re just cool looking, sharp spoons

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 16:11 next collapse

That makes sense. I hope my tone came across as more playful than accusatory.

MeThisGuy@feddit.nl on 08 Jan 05:05 collapse

they’re not sharp, they’re serrated

wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz on 07 Jan 19:02 collapse

No, that’s a putty knife. Spoons are elliptical and concave.

JasonDJ@lemmy.zip on 08 Jan 02:24 next collapse

Trump’s a litigious piece of shit. If he can prove libel, he’ll prove libel. BBC (and all news networks, really) need to tread lightly and keep him happy or they will get kneecapped with legal actions. Which, even if they win, and have every reason to win…it’s still an expensive and time consuming process, and they still have to tread lightly.

Meanwhile, advertisers and shareholders get very nervous. Granted, this doesn’t apply so much to BBC.

This is what civil justice has come down to. What’s “right” is decided by who can pay lawyers long enough to prove it. Stab each other with plastic forks and see who leaks to death first.

Vespair@lemmy.zip on 08 Jan 09:10 collapse

Yeah unfortunately while law should mostly exist to protect the vulnerable from the powerful, instead many US laws such as libel exist mostly to allow the powerful to muzzle the vulnerable

TallonMetroid@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 07:23 next collapse

Clearly, they should refer to it as “human trafficking” instead!

Naich@lemmings.world on 07 Jan 07:30 next collapse

“Abducted” it is then.

whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works on 07 Jan 07:57 next collapse

Isn’t BBC a British company? Why do they fear lawsuits in the USA?

lechekaflan@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 09:01 next collapse

That dickhead in the Oval Office and his cronies have buildings full of lawyers who’ll then launch trucks full of SLAPP suits. Couple with their usual OANN attack dogs.

gigachad@piefed.social on 07 Jan 09:19 collapse

I have no idea what these acronyms mean but I agree with this guy

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 07 Jan 12:09 collapse

SLAPP are nuisance lawsuits without merit filed solely to bully the recipient into submission and OANN is One American News Network, a hive of fascist Trump loving propagandists pretending to be news.

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 07 Jan 12:04 next collapse

Probably a combination of the leadership being a bunch of paleoconservatives and fascists installed by the previous government so they want to protect their ideological ally Trump, and British libel laws being a backwards mess where the defendant has to prove the absence of malice to the satisfaction of some weirdo in a wig 🤷

FlyingCircus@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 14:14 next collapse

Because capitalists control everything and they don’t give a shit about national borders.

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today on 08 Jan 05:34 collapse

i think disney bought BBC.

sns@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 07 Jan 08:31 next collapse

They also murdered about 80 people when they kidnapped and trafficked them.

9point6@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 08:44 next collapse

Halfway down was a quote from the working-class-LARPer fascist, Stephen yaxley-lennon, that he’s called for trump to invade the UK.

Unrelated, I’m pretty sure treason is the only thing we still have the death penalty for…

blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 07 Jan 11:01 next collapse

Thank you for using that dickheads proper name 

gwl@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 07 Jan 12:15 next collapse

Judas, Brutus, Quisling, Yaxley-lennon

Names of traitors to their own people throughout history

NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone on 08 Jan 04:11 collapse

He’s half Irish, of course, so he’d have to deport himself under a Trumpist regime.

cosmicrookie@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 08:49 next collapse

“free speech”

icelimit@lemmy.ml on 07 Jan 09:14 next collapse

It’s not a “war”, it’s a “special operation”. Anyone who says it’s a war is committing treason.

Deckname@olio.cafe on 07 Jan 12:17 collapse

<img alt="" src="https://olio-media.olio.cafe/posts/17/sL/17sLInP1pSXDQYn.jpg">
This was literally the header of the New York times on Sunday…

gnutrino@programming.dev on 07 Jan 09:37 next collapse

Nothing has been “banned” they just issued editorial guidelines on what term to use. As they (and all other media organizations) do with everything, it’s just how journalism works.

kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 07 Jan 10:33 next collapse

Oh cool, I thought they weren’t allowed to use the term “kidnapped”.

Media tries to whitewash way too much. As another comment pointed out, “the gun discharged” instead of “police shot someone” is a common one.

Call a spade a spade.

Doubleohdonut@lemmy.ca on 07 Jan 11:30 collapse

That’s definitely how it reads when the beeb says “don’t use this word that the perpatrator is dropping like a box of hammers.”

It comes despite US president Donald Trump explicitly saying that the word “kidnapping” could be used to describe the military operation. Asked about Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodriguez saying Maduro had been “kidnapped”, Trump said: “It’s alright. It’s not a bad term.”

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 07 Jan 12:00 next collapse

Nothing has been “banned” they just issued editorial guidelines

Tomato, potato.

If you’re not following the editorial guidelines, your editor is more likely to censor or outright reject your submitted work.

it’s just how journalism works.

Yes, and that’s a problem. The Conservative leadership of one of the most influential media organizations in the world “recommending” not to be accurate about the crime committed by their ideological ally is awful for journalism.

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 07 Jan 14:46 collapse

they didn’t ban it, they just told everyone that they can’t use it

jerkface@lemmy.ca on 07 Jan 12:12 next collapse

Kidnapping is a form of extortion. The point is to give the victim back once demands are met. That is not what is happening here. This is not a kidnapping.

dovah@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 12:15 next collapse

When I man snatches a child off the street with no intention of giving it back, everyone calls that kidnapping.

jerkface@lemmy.ca on 07 Jan 12:46 collapse

Okay but journalists are not “everyone”. They don’t say “not gonna lie” in the headlines and they don’t use the name of a specific crime (ie “kidnapping”) to refer to things that are not that specific crime.

TownhouseGloryHole@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 18:28 collapse

You’re absolutely right. It may seem like semantics to some, however it is an important distinction for journalists. Using colloquial language contributes to ambiguity when readers expect accuracy.

[deleted] on 08 Jan 07:55 collapse
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melsaskca@lemmy.ca on 07 Jan 12:15 next collapse

More billionaire media control. It’s everywhere I tell 'ya!

falseWhite@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 12:53 collapse

Possibly. But the BBC aired a pretty good segment on Trump and he sued BBC for $5bn. So, that’s most likely why they’re being careful going forward now.

axmo@lemmy.ca on 07 Jan 13:02 next collapse

In what way is this not control? He has succeeded in changing the editorial position of the BBC.

mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 07 Jan 16:22 next collapse

Control through legal threats is still control. The BBC is afraid of getting sued again, which means Trump has some impactful control over them.

wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz on 07 Jan 19:07 collapse

Why didn’t they take him to court over it? tRump has lost all the cases that companies actually took to court. The only ones who “lost” were the ones who capitulated, paid a settlement, fired the people trump didn’t like, then changed their editorial positions to comply with the party line as dictated.

plyth@feddit.org on 08 Jan 13:18 collapse

Why didn’t they take him to court over it?

Because they took two half sentences from different parts of a speech, put them together and made him say something he hadn’t said. (if I remember correctly)

wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz on 08 Jan 15:34 collapse

I thought BBC was supposed to be better than that…

aarRJaay@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 12:50 next collapse

British Biased Corporation

aarRJaay@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 12:52 next collapse

Question : I break into someones home and take them to my home (from their bed) and lock them up. What’s that called?

SculptusPoe@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 13:21 next collapse

Police action.

lividweasel@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 14:49 next collapse

It depends. What’s your net worth?

nibbler@discuss.tchncs.de on 07 Jan 15:13 next collapse

honestly, if the police does it with a warrant in their own country it’s certainly not called a kidnapping.

TheMinister@sh.itjust.works on 07 Jan 21:26 collapse

Hell, in the us right now they’re doing it without warrants

TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 07 Jan 18:44 next collapse

Depends on who’s writing history.

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 23:27 collapse

¿how many countries have you or the homeowners been el/la presidente of?

lepinkainen@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 05:14 collapse

So if it’s a president, it’s not kidnapping, but just a surprise trip?

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 07:11 collapse

sparkling vacation

ToiletFlushShowerScream@piefed.world on 07 Jan 13:58 next collapse

The BBC is no longer reputable

Mrkawfee@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 09:27 collapse

It stopped being reputable after the Iraq invasion in 2003. The Blair government stuffed it with loyalist apparatchiks to make sure the government line was never seriously questioned. This has been the case ever since.

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 12:47 collapse

September Dossier - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_Dossier

The 45 minute claim lay at the centre of a dispute between Downing Street and the BBC. On 29 May 2003, BBC defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan filed a report for BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in which he stated that an unnamed source – a senior British official – had told him that the September Dossier had been “sexed up”, and that the intelligence agencies were concerned about some “dubious” information contained within it – specifically the claim that Saddam Hussein could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes of an order to use them.

MagnificentSteiner@lemmy.zip on 07 Jan 14:25 next collapse

Hardly surprising considering the BBC is a british establishment mouthpiece and said establishment is subordinate to the americans.

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today on 08 Jan 05:35 collapse

its basically the cnn VERSION OF THE uk.

Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip on 07 Jan 15:01 next collapse

Abducted, then

[deleted] on 07 Jan 16:54 next collapse
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TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 07 Jan 18:48 next collapse

I’ll allow it, as long as they call it a war crime.

wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz on 07 Jan 19:09 next collapse

Can they say they abducted him?

demonsword@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 20:44 next collapse

so much for that alleged freedom of the press

CircaV@lemmy.ca on 07 Jan 21:37 next collapse

BBC is appeasing Trump. The UK is a lost cause. An Irrelevant ex-empire. Just like the US is going to be, once it finally implodes.

FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca on 08 Jan 08:01 next collapse

Can it please implode faster?

CircaV@lemmy.ca on 08 Jan 12:08 collapse

One part of me hopes so but if/when it does, I doubt something better will emerge - which is terrifying.

Earthman_Jim@lemmy.zip on 08 Jan 12:27 collapse

Kinda seems stupid to want it to implode then, no?

deHaga@feddit.uk on 08 Jan 13:15 collapse

Still has the largest navy in Europe so not irrelevant. More relevant if anything with US withdrawal.

AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works on 07 Jan 23:39 next collapse

BBC bans journalists from telling the truth?

sunbytes@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 06:28 collapse

It’s so unprecedented!

/s

nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 08 Jan 06:44 next collapse

they’re probably worried about being blocked in more countries

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today on 08 Jan 07:08 collapse

BBC already got spooked for shilling for israel.

Suriel@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 07:22 next collapse

Perhaps “unfreed” could be used instead?

cutemarshmallow@europe.pub on 08 Jan 13:40 collapse

Adultnapped

BanMe@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 16:25 collapse

Rehomed

Mrkawfee@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 09:25 next collapse

BBC is propaganda for the Empire.

Cyberflunk@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 10:41 next collapse

BBC Has Fallen is Gerard Butlers next movie

melsaskca@lemmy.ca on 08 Jan 13:19 next collapse

Change “BBC” to “Global Media” and you are closer to the truth.

conartistpanda@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 13:38 collapse

Maduro was kidnapped expropriated

bhamlin@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 14:51 collapse

I’m more a fan of “reverse ICEd”