Gossip – the main source of ‘news’ for our MSM

I am delighted, absolutely delighted, to write today about the latest ‘scandal’ emanating from No 10 – a scandal which shows in painful perfection how our Westminster MSM work in concert. Moreover, the reporting of this ‘scandal’ illustrates again that we cannot trust anything which the MSM report from No 10, that again they did not do due diligence and that yet again they rely on one ‘source’ only for a ‘scandal’ report. It’s of course inconceivable that ‘her upstairs’ might have had anything to do with this.

Before I delve into this delightful mess let me also point out that the one piece of news which should’ve dominated the headlines has been relegated to a place amongst the ‘also-rans’. You’ll be pleased to hear that Britain is ‘no longer in a pandemic’ – thanks to the mass jabbing programme:

“In the first large real-world study of the impact of vaccination on the general population, researchers found that the rollout is having a major impact on cutting both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases. Sarah Walker, Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology at Oxford and Chief Investigator on the Office for National Statistics Covid-19 Infection Survey, said that Britain had ‘moved from a pandemic to an endemic situation’ where the virus is circulating at a low, largely controllable level in the community.” (paywalled link)

We’ll have to see what the SAGEs will come up with later today,  in order to keep us locked down, in order to keep us compliant with the muzzle rules. The one point which cannot be refuted is that this result is based on researching a large number of people:

“The new research, based on throat swabs from 373,402 people between December 1 last year and April 3, found three weeks after one dose of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca jab, symptomatic infections fell by 74 per cent and infections without symptoms by 57 per cent. By two doses, asymptomatic infections were down 70 per cent and symptomatic by 90 per cent.” (paywalled link)

That, surely, would have deserved headlines all over the MSM! Instead, we’re treated to that ‘scandal’ coming out of NO 10. It’s about Dominic Cummings. Before I quote the details, I’ll just mention that the timing of this ‘release’ is exquisite. It comes precisely right after the accusations by Mr Johnny Mercer about this government being ‘a cesspit’. Btw – I wrote about Mr Mercer yesterday not because I think he’s the bee’s knees but simply because, for once, a minister used harsh but appropriate words describing the BJ regime. Any other minister resigning and using that description would’ve served as well.

So – Dominic Cummings … According to the time of publication provided at the top of the ‘Cummings reports’ this morning, we find that the DT went first, publishing their ‘shock-horror’ article at 10.15pm yesterday. They were followed by the DM coming out at 11.35pm, redacting their text at 1.24am this morning, enabling them to copy from The Times which published at 12.01am.

Let’s now look at the truly dreadful way this ‘story’ has been written up. Here, firstly, are the DT’s headlines:

“Dominic Cummings accused of being Downing Street ‘Chatty Rat’ leaker – ‘Bitter’ former chief adviser to Boris Johnson is prime suspect in leaking messages which implicated Prime Minister in two lobbying scandal” (paywalled link)

Anyone who only speed-reads the headlines cannot help but think that “Cummings is a rat”. Scrolling down a bit, after some fluff about ‘Downing Street sources’ (note the plural) believing that ‘Cummings is bitter’, and after being told that BJ and Carrie had been subject of hostile briefings, we get the main point:

“The source said: “If you join the dots it looks like it’s coming from Dom. More than anything the PM is disappointed and saddened by what Dom has been up to. Dom may feel bitter about what’s happened since he left. Rather than falling apart, the Government has been making great progress.” (paywalled link)

So – it’s one source, giving no evidence whatsoever, only saying ‘it looks likely’ and speculating about what ‘Dom’ might be feeling. The leaks referred to are the revelations about BJ having promised Mr Dyson of hoover-fabrication fame some preferential tax treatment if he came back to England and set up fabrication of ventilators for the covid pandemic.

As an old cynic, especially when it comes to observing how ‘Our MSM’ are writing in concert about stuff the government wants them to push to the top of the agenda, it’s obvious to me that this piece of ‘News’ is not just a deflection from the Mercer scandal, it’s also an attempt to make BJ look like an innocent victim in regard to the Dyson affair. Funny that he and his advisers haven’t noticed that most of us care more about the end of the covid affair rather than about how BJ looks in the MSM.

It gets better. The DM, under the headline: “Boris Johnson ‘accuses Dominic Cummings of being the ‘Chatty Rat’ who leaked PM’s texts to Sir James Dyson” (link) actually hides behind phrases such as ‘national papers have reported’ and ‘BJ is reported as having said’. No, the DM reporters themselves did not investigate if these allegations might be true. Only quoting ‘national papers’, they give a lovely example for what is known as ‘CYA’. After all, they were only ‘reporting’ what the broadsheets had written.

And so to The Times which was pre-eminent in the constant MSM war against Cummings. They’re off to a good start in the first paragraphs. No editor has apparently noticed that these sentences are a pitifully transparent exercise in obscuring who actually accused Cummings:

“Boris Johnson believes that Dominic Cummings is behind damaging leaks including the disclosure of the prime minister’s text messages. A No 10 source claimed that Johnson’s former senior adviser was “engaged in systematic leaking” and “bitter about what’s happened since he left”.The prime minister was “saddened about what Dom is doing”, the source said as they accused him of “undermining the government and the party”.” (link, paywalled)

We have ‘Boris believes’ and ‘the PM was saddened’ – and we have ‘a No 10 source’ which ‘claimed …’. It looks as if several entities were talking to the intrepid reporters, doesn’t it! However, the Times drops an important detail a bit further down in their article:

“A No 10 source claimed last night: “Dominic is engaged in systematic leaking. We are disappointed about that. We are concerned about messages from private WhatsApp groups which had very limited circulation. The prime minister is saddened about what Dom is doing. It’s undermining the government and the party. It might be that Dominic feels bitter about what’s happened since he left — but it’s a great shame. Dyson was trying to do something for the good of the country.” (link, paywalled)

Clearly, this ‘scandal’, this smearing of Cummings with no evidence given is only based on what one single source in No 10 gossiped to the selected hacks reporting from the ‘Court of Carrie’. It’s this one ‘source’, and only this source, which launched the articles about Cummings, spiced with conjecture about what Cumming ‘might feel’. Evidence for Cummings being ‘engaged in systematic leaking’ is of course not provided. I’ll only point out that Dom would certainly have had far more and far more incendiary stuff to leak if he were so inclined. 

In conclusion: Our dear MSM have proven yet again that they are only singing from a No 10 hymn sheet, that they are copying from each other shamelessly, that they do not do their own research, and that they rely on one – yes: one ‘source’ only. How many times have we mentioned that the MSM have deteriorated to providers of gossip from No 10 or Whitehall, taking as truth what an anonymous source said! They never ask why such a source drops such statements into their eager ears, never asking the vital question ‘cui bono’ – who benefits.

We however can ask what BJ, what No 10 and Whitehall wanted to hide behind this Cummings ‘scandal’ gossip. Is it the fact that the wonderful PR Lady – a ‘friend of Carrie’ –  who was going to present BJ’s policies akin to the ‘production’ given by the White House has been sidelined, as the DM reported (link)? Is it the fact that New Zealand is apparently abandoning the ‘Five Eyes’ and cosying up to China (link)? Or is it simply that BJ and his covid cronies did not want to see the MSM headlining the fact that the pandemic is over? 

Well, perhaps it’s only all about her upstairs taking sweet revenge for the ousting of her friend, the former PR supremo, while giving another nice little kick to her enemy, Dom Cummings. I know where to place my bet …

KBO!