Newsworthy?

Agreed - journalists & politicians & & & - add/subtract as many others for whatever suits your viewpoint - have been trying to distort the way the general public view the world since forever.  

Once upon a time the proletariat had little influence or choice, now if one brand of journalism does not suit your ideal, change the brand - only problem is you may never find satisfaction, unless you become a journalist,  or simply ignore it. 

PARKLIFE

Yes, especially when you consider the reaction in certain parts of the world.

Russia: Giant iPhone statue removed amid 'gay' row

If not totally, then at least I make sure not get too emotionally involved.

We rarely know the complete truth of any given news story, and some reporting is so obviously cherry picked from the most exciting and often bleakest aspects.

Sometimes hindsight may give us a better idea, or at least we might think this is so - even if it is not ...

As for the original point about a senior executive in a famous company coming out as homosexual. For me it is news of no significance. I am sure some others - for many diffident reasons - may well think otherwise. 

I suppose such news is as important to each individual as they choose to prioritise compared to other items of news.

For example many people find football a constant source of important news, but as someone who only understands that there is an incomprehensible off-side rule, and has no idea of the general structure of the game and its administration, I never place any value on reports about football. Another topic I find not worthy of news is Formula One racing ....

At least the sports reports come towards the end of bulletins, so I can turn off before it comes along.

ATB from George

I can agree in part George,  I view true journalism as a higher level than news publishing,  I have in mind some (repeat some) of the political columnists & situation reporting such as we have seen in the worlds disasters,  especially so with the ability to communicate live TV around the world. 

The so called news we see with many daily papers & more sadly the TV bulletins with more emphasis on eye catching headlines over content is not serious journalism.  

However some peoples unworthy items are others bread & butter, & sport is such an item. No I am not a football fan, wrong shape & sized ball,  however F1 holds a fascination for me not so much as a sport but as a technical & engineering battle,  but it also contains a pleasure in seeing favourite teams & drivers succeeding.    

Finally I should have added "form your own opinion" to "or simply ignore it".

Dear Mike,

I have not had a TV for 12 years and not even watched anything on the iPlayer for about three. My daily ration of news comes with BBC Radio Four, and if anything is really important, I buy two contrasted newspapers next day - the Guardian, and the Telegraph. That way one gets the inconvenient details!

If you have ever had personal contact with a front page newspaper story as reported by the Tabloids [all of them nowadays], then you soon realise that inconvenient details that would contextualise the story and make it very much less interesting seem to get lost, and other things exaggerated. The excuse is that in the heat of the moment a few exaggerated mistakes are made! Well, well, well. 

Some may say that the BBC is state controlled, but I don't think so so long as we have the likes of John Humphreys putting Politicians and other opinion formers on the spot in the Today Programme, but it is also true that the BBC reports Parliament in great detail, and we all know that Politicians can exaggerate aspects and leave out important details, so one must certainly listen to the Radio will the critical thinking cap on!

At the moment it seems that we are being bounced on the issue of the EU. For some reason the EU has decided that it wants to make itself unsavoury to the UK Electorate. And Mr Cameron has not revealed his hand. Mind you, if the UK Electorate wants to leave the EU, then it will happen as the next Gov't will be elected to allow [and not oppose as Miliband current does] a Referendum, and the voting will be sharply for leaving, I would guess - going on the way the news is arriving from Mr Junkers, Mrs Merkel, and Mr Cameron.

And if that is what democracy gives us, then I support it without agreeing on a personal level with this or that result.

ARB from George

I like Formula 1 for its confluence of excellence in many fields. I accept that it is far from a "pure sport" but does have some sporting elements.

Like how large a bribe is needed for the head of it to avoid being put on trial in Germany and potentially sent to prison.

Yes it has its sporting aspects for sure, but not on the track.

Sorry, but it used to be interesting, but now it is just silly as I see it, though I concede that others may find it interesting.

ATB from George

Agree, George. Some people find Tour de France very exciting... Me, not so Much. I think they should start doping tests in F1. 

well, the man should have thought in advance about consequences of his speech.

Do you mean that you think he didn't?

Chris

Yes he should have thought it thru' & I am sure he did. Maybe he believes the consequences of loosing market in Russia & the other countries who do not support this was worth the cost,  or maybe to his own honesty & integrity.    

honesty?.. the honest ones don't use mass media outlets to make statements.

Sharik,  Russia is already banning western products as a result of the Ukraine issue,  so I would not agree with your opinion on that as a statement of permanent fact.  

Using mass media as you call it to make such a statement is very common with high profile company people.  Whatever they say or do has an affect on the company - the public do not "allow" them to have private lives as we know it. To hide this kind of thing & for it to become a public rumour is very damaging.  You might underestimate the acceptance of this subject in the "west".  Its considered an honest thing to be open about it & its no longer something to hide.    

really?.. i didn't notice that. Russia can not and may not ban such products as Apple's because this would mean war.

therefore 'high profile' does not imply honesty whatsoever, it is hipocrisy that high profile persons use instead.

Sharik,  I did not say Russia was banning Apple,  I said western products,  a language misunderstanding I expect.  

However if I may expand - Medvedev has retaliated against western sanctions with with a ban of all beef, pork, fruit, vegetables & dairy products from the European Union, USA, Canada, Australia, & Norway for one year. 

Also its reported to be considering banning Western airlines from flying over Russian airspace & the possibility of introducing restrictions on the import of planes, navy vessels & cars.

Your argument over high profile hypocrisy is not worth engaging with, you do not understand the politics of managing the public profile of a large multinational in the west.  & whatever you do believe is your opinion & we must agree to disagree.  

then how comes that the above measures did not affect Russian supermarkets?

 on the contrary, i do understand it too well, and find the practice disgusting.

yep, sometimes i wonder, how much of a product price consists of spendings on advertising.

upset by what?

The implications are not fully understood, but from the beginning of next year Russia will ban any company from offering services that store data outside of Russia. this will obviously affect the likes of Google, Facebook and Apple.

The impact on Apple is not fully clear, as it applies to iCloud. iCould is integral to the iOS experience so it's not clear if devices will be banned or if Apple might offer them for sale without iCloud.

Personally hope that Apple doesn't give in, which is to say that local servers in the case of Russia probably has more to do with internal surveillance than snooping by the NSA.

that's true, i wouldn't because in that case there would have been no politics or agenda implied in his statement