Dedicated to all journalists
Posted by: Officer DBL on 26 January 2009
The Traveller's Curse after Misdirection
May they stumble, stage by stage
On an endless Pilgrimage
Dawn and dusk, mile after mile
At each and every step a stile
At each and every step withal
May they catch their feet and fall
At each and every fall they take
May a bone within them break
And may the bone that breaks within
Not be, for variations sake
Now rib, now thigh, now arm, now shin
but always, without fail, the NECK
Robert Graves
Seems appropriate to dedicate this poem to all journalists given the way recent bouts of sensationalism and stories abounding in misunderstood facts and deliberate half truths have contrbuted to the demise of the banking sector.
Posted on: 26 January 2009 by FlyMe
Think he must have got out of the wrong side of the bed the day he wrote that!
Is part of a longer poem or is that it?
Must admit that I share your sentiments.
Posted on: 26 January 2009 by Christopher_M
Rob, you seem to be shooting the messenger. It wasn't journos who sold mortgages to the poor in America's mid-west in the almost certain knowledge that the loans could not be repaid. Nor was it journos who parcelled up those dodgy loans and knowingly sold them on to someone else.
Incompetent journalists or those that don't know what they're doing tend to be sacked fairly early on. If only the same could be said for those at the top in the banking profession.
Regards, Chris
Posted on: 26 January 2009 by Officer DBL
Sometimes the messenger needs shooting when the message they bring only serves to make things worse. I am not saying the banks are blameless, far from it, but there has been no excuse for the sensationalist reporting that we have witnessed of late.
Picking scabs to prove there was a wound only delays the healing.
Cheers
Rob
Posted on: 26 January 2009 by Christopher_M
I'm glad we agree the problem's root cause lies within the banking sector. Like you I'm unhappy with sensationalist reporting, but given the choice between that and Pollyanna journalism, I'd take the former every time. Otherwise you're just left with PR.
Cheers, Chris
Posted on: 26 January 2009 by SC
quote:
Originally posted by Rob B:
Dedicated to all journalists.
all ?
Posted on: 27 January 2009 by Guido Fawkes
quote:
we agree the problem's root cause lies within the banking sector
100%
For any banking executives,
please click here for a definition of the term percentage; also recommended is this
Posted on: 27 January 2009 by SC
Posted on: 27 January 2009 by SC
“It is perhaps time now to admit that we did not learn the full lessons of the greed-is-good ideology. And today we are still cleaning up the mess of the 21st-century children of Gordon Gekko.” - Kevin Rudd/Australian Prime Minister.
Posted on: 31 January 2009 by SigmundEinstein
The banking sector is what contributed to demise of the banking sector. I remember when some drug cheats in the Tour de France got caught, they were upset that journalists reported on the matter and tarnished the image of the Tour.
If journalists should be criticised for anything, it is for not asking 10 years ago: "PE ratio of 50? How the **** is that good value?" In other words, the journalists should have been more pessimistic all along.
I invite you to state some specific examples of "and stories abounding in misunderstood facts and deliberate half truths" and state a plausible link between same and the economic problems.
Posted on: 02 February 2009 by Kevin-W
quote:
Originally posted by Rob B:
Sometimes the messenger needs shooting when the message they bring only serves to make things worse. I am not saying the banks are blameless, far from it, but there has been no excuse for the sensationalist reporting that we have witnessed of late.
Picking scabs to prove there was a wound only delays the healing.
Cheers
Rob
Rob, as has already been pointed out on this thread, it wasn't Peston or any of the other hacks who contributed to the demise of the banking sector. Goodwin, Tannin, Gioffi, Fuld, Hornby, Applegarth
et al did that, they were the ones who lent irresponsibly and immorally. Neither did the hacks spunk away millions of taxpayers' money on staff jollies and bonuses (as HBOS, RBS, Northern Rock, AIG, and others have done) since the crisis broke.
The messenger NEVER needs shooting. That's the kind of thing Stalin would have said/condoned, so think very carefully before coming out with such silly/downright dangerous (depending on your POV) things.
Like Sigmund, I would like to see some evidence for this sensationalist reporting of which you speak.
Thank you
Kevin (ex-journalist, who knows that not all hacks are whiter than white - just to declare my interest)
Posted on: 03 February 2009 by Officer DBL
Gentlemen,
Whilst there is no doubt that some elements within banking have made some gross errors of judgement causing widespread grief for a lot of people, it should not be the case that the entire industry is blamed. Some of the major culprits have been identified and named in this thread and I will stress that I do not condone their actions at all. However in the cost cutting fall out that is to follow, many people in the industry who have been completely uninvolved with the activities that have led us to the current crisis stand to lose their jobs through no fault of their own. I speak as one of those whose job is in the balance - just to declare my interest.
My post seems to have hit a nerve with the pair of you and you appear incensed at what you see as my sensationalist take on how the media has reacted to this crisis. How ironic.
The messenger may not need shooting, but they do need to consider the wider implications of their words. Send three and fourpence, we're going to a dance..
Rob
Posted on: 03 February 2009 by Kevin-W
quote:
Originally posted by Rob B:
My post seems to have hit a nerve with the pair of you and you appear incensed at what you see as my sensationalist take on how the media has reacted to this crisis. How ironic.
Rob
Not sensationalist, Rob, just a little, well how should I put it... idiotic? Ill-thought-out? Stupid? Crass? (Unusually, words fail me at his point).
I'm sorry that your job may be in danger, but you can hardly blame a few hacks for the systemic failures of an entire industry. A complete lack of confidence/trust in the banking sector is not the fault of the media - it's down to the poor governance of the sector itself.
Additionally you have still failed to provide any kind of supporting evidence for your assertion that "recent bouts of sensationalism and stories abounding in misunderstood facts and deliberate half truths" have "contributed to the demise of the banking sector. Are you going to at some point? I'm sure the whole forum is just gagging for your pearls of wisdom and your trenchant analysis of the follies of the decadent and corrupt media.
BTW, trying to be clever and quoting Robert Graves to back up a worthless statement doesn't wash. Naughty boy.
Posted on: 03 February 2009 by Officer DBL
Kevin,
So you do agree on the irony I take it.
Posted on: 03 February 2009 by Christopher_M
Rob,
You write:
quote:
However in the cost cutting fall out that is to follow, many people in the [banking] industry who have been completely uninvolved with the activities that have led us to the current crisis stand to lose their jobs through no fault of their own.
And many, many other people who work elsewhere in the private sector too.
Regards,
Chris
Posted on: 04 February 2009 by jon h
quote:
Originally posted by SigmundEinstein:
The banking sector is what contributed to demise of the banking sector.
I dont blame the bankers at all (apart from the stupid decisions like buying Amro). They did nothing illegal. They went out to maximise their profits -- what do you expect them to do???
Its clearly all a grotesque failure of regulation.
Posted on: 04 February 2009 by u5227470736789439
I happen to agree that the banks need treating with very great care in ensuring that their profit motivation is so thoroughly regulated that we could never again reach the point where sub-prime lending, and the massive web of non-transparent dealings that followed, results in a break-down of confidence in the larger economy that is happening before our very eyes. Clearly this requires an international approach to the regulation of the problem.
If that means treating them as children then so be it.
If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is fair enough to assume it is a duck.
... and treat it accordngly
George
Posted on: 04 February 2009 by Adam Meredith
quote:
Originally posted by GFFJ:
If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is fair enough to assume it is a duck.
... and treat it accordingly
Posted on: 04 February 2009 by jon h
quote:
Originally posted by GFFJ:
If that means treating them as children then so be it.
George
Indeed so -- banks should be banks, not players in the grand casino.
