Fake News Finished?

Has Fake News Finally Had Its Day?

We have heard a great deal about fake news recently and people are told to be on their guard so not to be drawn in by the falseness of these claims. But in my opinion for many years we have been bombarded with fake news by many in the main stream media who’s fabricated stories have been used to sell newspapers or boost television ratings. The most recent example I present is that of the popular music icon Sir Cliff Richard. Some media sources set out to ruin this man’s life by reporting falsehoods based upon what we now know to be an illegal invasion of his privacy. If you harken back to the days in August 2014 when the story broke the newspapers didn’t waste any time in hanging Sir Cliff out to dry by splashing images of him all over the front pages and the with headlines that would have led the innocent reader to believe that he had actually committed some crime. The BBC were being hailed as champions of this action by sinisterly plotting to film a raid on his UK residence in cooperation with the South Yorkshire Police, which they did with military precision almost as if it were like the SAS raid on the Libyan Embassy siege in 1984. Now all this reporting it seems has amounted to no convictions at all. What it has achieved is a waste of millions of pounds of British tax payers money that could have been used to more worthy causes in these difficult times, and more importantly the tarnished reputation of a man who has done nothing wrong.
The ruling by the courts in this case will no doubt change things and rightly so. Some in the press are now jumping up and down spitting with rage that their so called freedom of reporting is under threat. Well serves them right. If it means protecting the innocent then we should all be pleased that they could be gagged at last from being able to report fabrication. Fake News is not just about what President Trump may have done, it is not just about the reporting of a celebrity death when that person is still alive. Fake news is stating that there are facts about anything that there is no evidence of. Football fans are subjected to it every day when the news reports that such and such a club is talking to a player about joining them when there’s hardly any truth in it at all. It is just speculation. Reporting should be based on truth and now is the time to change the culture of deceit that the media dishes out.
I for one am hoping that this ruling in favour of Sir Cliff Richard will initiate the end of Fake News and we can start to breathe a little in knowing that the correct authorities can go about their work without having to bend to media sources and should any be found guilty of their crimes then that should trigger the freedom to report. Truth will and must prevail for the sake of us all.