Is the Guardian worse than it used to be?

yep I think it was chain reaction, lol cd probably got knackered as well.

Why must there be a brexitland safari article every fucking week? It's like they've heard of this mythical thing called "journalism" and are clumsily trying to recreate it from the vastly inadequate materials they possess. Also john harris's fault of course.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/03/disaster-wigan-voters-little-appetite-election

that lisa nandy often sounds just as muddle-headed as her inarticulate constituents that inevitably get quoted in these bullshit pieces is bad imo.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-09-11-how-the-uk-security-services-neutralised-the-countrys-leading-liberal-newspaper/amp/

some interesting stuff in this overview of one of the main reasons why the guardian is worse than it used to be

An excellent piece. Good to see particular attention on Luke Harding.

Publishing stuff directly provided by the security services without scrutiny is bad enough when it’s true, appalling when it’s not.

You have to say this "Despite this, since January 2016, The Guardian has published 1,215 stories mentioning Labour and anti-Semitism, an average of around one per day" is incredible

jesus that is some really damning stats. at least that radical Toynbee can't be got to by GCHQ spooks or Graun editors in their pockets!

Very good piece, and damning for Viner.

ian cobain, one of the former guardian reporters mentioned in the article who has done great work on e.g. systematic torture carried about by british security services, was recently told he could not attend the "Defence and Security Equipment International" in london which I believe is the biggest arms fair in the world. "After reviewing your application we are unable to establish that you are a journalist/editor/production team member in a relevant field."

that's a helluva (depressing) read

The Guardian finally responds to the original Q https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/08/guardian-coverage-britain-europe-1971
A: we have podcasts, liveblogs and Twitter now!

What am I supposed to do with this tote bag now

use it to throw spooks off the scent

Further proof of the Graun's steep decline:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/sep/13/100-best-albums-of-the-21st-century

the GCHQ/ILM approved top 100 albums!

It'd be worth a Venn diagram if I wasn't so lazy…

eh this just seems like a list of broadsheet newspaper music column music. not sure that I want like midtown 120 blues or something being dragged through this kindof indignity anyway.

^^^^^

lol, it is bad when they mix some token good stuff into the usual run of the mill garbage!

I've not even hate-read Petridis in years and my life feels much better.

they still repping for The Strokes? what the fuck is right with these people?

The least they could've done was name the 45 polled music writers (and add their individual lists). This is as useless as an old shopping list.

no Gaz Coombes = what a joke list

i'd rather see the petridis collection of wanking socks on a washing line than his personal list tbh!

i mean it's a list isn't it they serve functional purpose to their publishers but as somebody said it's one of those where you almost stop liking the good things on it just cos of the tawdry company and conjunctions

also who cares omg. I recently bought a paper edition of the guardian, something I haven't done in years, which reminded me of things I had sortof forgotten about newspaper layouts and helped explain why they are so bad. There is so much space that needs to be filled once advertising and expensive investigative journalism has been factored in. I had forgotten about all the "did you know?" boxes and realised how much of online content is just those elements repurposed only now they have their own page which makes them seem doubly redundant. These lists are literally puff and i don't know why anybody would bother reading somebody going blah blah blah vampire weekend blah blah blah

yeah even our eyerolls are engaging with the game :(

eh it seems fine enough for what it is. I like a lot of those albums. I couldn't really give a shit about those kind of lists though, although it may be a bit incongruous for a poster on website ILM to not be particularly enthused about ranking music in order

nobody should listen to any opinions I have about music anyway, I'm currently listening to a 90's ska punk album and liking it

I'm a pretty damn mainstream listener and probably square in the demographic for this list. If there's nothing on the list that someone like me hasn't heard, it's not serving its purpose.

my taste in music is increasingly atrocious but i don't go around telling people that the stuff i like is the greatest especially when it is just a list of albums that were like "top itunes releases this week" or w/e. I guess this list was just written by the press team at a large music distribution firm.

I did add Midtown 120 Minutes to my download list tho

and that's where it fails. the purpose surely for the distribution firms etc is to point yer average boring guardian readee like me to consume new music and generate more clicks/streams/sales. This list is so safe that it doesn't even serve that commercial purpose.

*reader...

If you think the albums list is bad you should check out the films list

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/sep/13/100-best-films-movies-of-the-21st-century

I suspect your average boring guardian reader barely listens to music from this century. Is there much overlap between trad media readers and new music consumers?

this thread?

‘Much’!

This one's for you, calz:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/sep/13/best-album-21st-century-amy-winehouse-back-to-black

(Facebook opened to everyone over 13 with a valid email address four weeks before Back to Black’s release; Twitter’s tipping point came five months later).

some gr8 sociocultural context there Petridis m8!

yes/no:

the guardian editorial is going to tell us to vote lib dem when the election comes?

yes

Yes, absolutely.

Again.

I think some kind of remainer tactical alliance version of the nose peg thing

it will promote a coalition of the LDs and the Strokes

Kettle was bumming swinson the other day and telling everyone to vote for her, whilst also admitting the libdems brexit stance is idiotic, unworkable and their stance on austerity is unchanged from 2010 - yay go libdems!

Anyone read this today?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/14/alaric-bamping-brexit-party-my-far-left-ex-boyfriend-harriet-sherwood

I suspected it might go one particular way and mention one particular name and was surprised to be dead right

We briefly discussed it in the British politics thread.

did not know that eric hobsbawm's daughter works in PR