John Darvall is a BBC radio host who recently had an epiphany over the state of journalism, after realizing the industry he’d served so well wouldn’t think twice about screwing him over for a good story.
Darvall, who hosts a show on BBC radio Bristol, has just lost his daughter. Polly was 22, and died in a tragic car accident on Halloween. Since he works for the BBC, Darvall’s grief became public, and he agreed to give an interview. The report was full of inaccuracies and mistakes which compounded his loss, and caused huge problems in the family.
‘This poor piece of journalism made Tuesday probably the worst day of this whole episode so far. This includes seeing our dead daughter in a hospital mortuary just 12 hours after she was killed,’ Darvall wrote in a moving blog post.
‘Newspapers have contacted me and provided appallingly written articles, which I have had to change, ‘polish’ or make actual sense of. Other papers have published articles using my personal relationship as ‘the in line’, when this is NOT the story but, at best, just a very small part of the story.’
Darvall goes on:
Those who know me well will know that I never, ever wanted to be the story, just to tell or share the story, as a journalist, correctly. I have never wanted to be on TV, I don’t want to be known, perhaps just be known of, to do my job well and to help people if I can and to get to the truth for others.
However, he’s now seen the light: ‘truth’ and the mainstream media don’t go together, after all. Darvall suggests there’s no future for his industry, suggesting that the Internet will eventually take over as the primary source of finding out about current affairs:
‘The way we all consume news is changing,’ he writes. ‘The way we share news has changed and will continue to change at a faster pace. This week TV and newspapers have proven to me why they are not the future of news. If they can’t even get their facts right, be trusted with clear information and then report it accurately is it any wonder that we are all turning to Facebook, Twitter and other internet sources for our news and information? The internet allows us to come to our own conclusions by checking our own facts. We really can’t trust the traditional outlets to do it right or properly. I write this as a father who has lost a daughter. I write this as a journalist who loved his work but can now clearly see why so many have lost faith in his profession and traditional media. They, we and I have brought this on ourselves.’
Finally, Darvall leaves us with two pieces of advice:
‘Trust nothing you read or watch,’ he tells us, and possibly the most important thing of all: ‘Love your children and loved ones. Properly love them. Tell them every day, make sure they know that you love them regardless of what might be happening. Nothing is more important than that.’
Well said, sir.
Darvall’s blog post comes in the wake of two (much bigger) ‘shock-horror’ admissions by insiders that the mainstream media is entirely fake: a German journalist recently spilled the beans on how media professionals are nothing more than propaganda writers who deliberately lie to the people and help intelligence agencies push for war.
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In another story that went viral around the world, a model who built her career on making herself look beautiful for Instagram photos had what can only be described as a total breakdown, quitting the ‘business’ of social media and blowing the whistle on how shallow and fake the entire industry is in her final YouTube video ever (Note: embedded video now fixed). Both of these are well worth watching and sharing with everyone you know!
Could 2015 be the year that the masses wake up and see that the Emperor is wearing no clothes? We certainly hope so…
This article (BBC Journalist Comes Clean: “Believe Nothing You Read Or Watch”) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and TrueActivist.com.
I have said that for along time – – – THE DRIVE BY news media are just that – – a bunch of DRIVE BY NEWS PEOPLE – – that DRIVE BY & then spou9t off about what ** THEY ** think & thougtht they SAW . //////////////////////////////
My Father, a crusty old WWII Army COE Sargent, always told us: “Believe half of what you see/witness and none of what you read/hear, and you will be fine”. It reminds me of one of Lincoln’s truths: “You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time”. Especially in todays radical liberal. progressive, socialist, commie and PC LSM.
“Especially in todays radical liberal. progressive, socialist, commie and PC LSM”
Sounds like a lot more propaganda has slipped under your skin then you realize.
What??? The Emperor is wearing no clothes? I bet he’s a hit at the bathhouse in Chi town.
What took him so long? This is an insider so imagine n watch why an outsider ‘man on the street’ interviews are so sad. Oreilly believes u can embarass the public into changing behavior n getting informed. Hasn’t worked in his career … think he’s an imbecile.
Capitalism is dying and so is its media format, the mega-corporate owned news sources . The internet and valid individual independent real investigative journalism is available. The cubicle journalists of the so called alternative media and the republican corporate mainstream media with their faux conservatism are on their way out. The alien/military/industrial/complex is about to meet its match – awakened humanity.
Nice bit of honesty – the internet is the only place to find truths that the PC LSM won’t print or say – most just want a paycheck.
RIP POLLY.
Who would believe any news media after 911????
Probably before 911; never did a study on media ownership and when it was actually corrupted. that might make a good research project! Might get you droned or SWATed though!
Yes more and more people are having to rely on the internet and alternative media to try and stay informed about what is really going on. This is why alternative news sites are being infiltrated like never before. Most now are just pretenders that are actually pushing the elite’s agenda. Intellihub is one good example. The site has actively been engaging in distorting the truth and is even now censoring comments from those with opposing views while allowing shills and trolls to muddy the waters to put it simply. They once posted an article that had nothing to do with anything except some celebrities getting into an altercation. Such things are always a distraction. I posted the first comment where I simply asked the question ” why is this story on intellihub and what does it have to do with the bigger picture and the betterment of mankind?” Then it said my comment was deleted for being spam. I would like to know how that one comment posted on that one article in any way could be considered spam. At this time we can not be too carefull. Things change. We must stay vigilant. We need to constantly test the waters. Just because a alternative news site may have been on the level in the past does not guarantee it will remain so.
Great story, great article!
Wow , thank you for that and sorry about your daughter , sadly it takes an insider to wake up the people , will it work who knows maybe in time , Atomic metroid bingo , after 911 who would believe the MSN , i must say thank you to the Main stream media because their reporting of 911 WOKE ME UP . tc all .
So, Activist Post, in what way did this BBC journalist ‘come clean, as you state in your headline? To ‘come clean’ means to admit to some personal wrongdoing. Certainly, he criticises the general media for factual inaccuracies… so you then headline your story with a factual inaccuracy. Ironic, isn’t it. This is a man in great anguish. The most important thing he said was ‘love your family.’
More and more people are speaking out , ty for that but what took you so long ?