Owen Jones and Kelvin MacKenzie
I was debating with Owen Jones on Twitter last night. He made what I thought was a rather intemperate comment about how Ed Miliband had given a nod to some of the positive things that Margaret Thatcher had done
Owen appears to have deleted the tweet from his timeline so this is from memory but it was along the lines of
"Ed Miliband praising Thatcher is the equivalent of telling Labour supporters to f**k off".
I thought this was rather odd and as I read the piece in the Telegraph Owen was referring to I could not see "praise" as such. Instead Miliband was paying tribute to how she created an era of aspiration which is surely pretty uncontroversial.
The reason for the confusion became apparent soon afterwards:
Ah, the quote I was sent re: Thatcher wasn't Ed Miliband, it was a quote wrongly attributed to him. My mistake
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) September 14, 2012
He was sent a quote by a source who turned out to have been wrong. Fair enough a few minutes later he corrected himself.
Almost at that very same moment, Owen was on Radio 5 laying into Kelvin MacKenzie for having published the Hillsborough piece without verifying that his sources were accurate. I totally agree with Owen that MacKenzie is a vile individual who deserves to be vilified for what he did.
But if I was Owen, I'd be a little bit more careful about checking what my own sources are sending me before flying off the handle with vituperative tweets.
He wouldn't want to get a reputation for in any way acting like the former Sun editor.
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11 comments:
Owen frequently opens his gob before checking his facts. He wrote an entire book on that basis!
Wow, thank god someone has had the courage to say this at last. Owen Jones misreading and piece and then tweeting it to his 30,000-odd followers, then immediately correcting it when the mistake was pointed out...
... That is EXACTLY like Kelvin Mackenzie printing offensive libels about football fans and the bereaved on the front page of a national newspaper with millions of readers, then consistently refusing to apologise for it over the course of 20 years until several public inquiries forced him to acknowledge that the whole thing was crap, and that he had known it to be single-sourced probable crap from the beginning.
*slow clap*
When Miliband says he doesn't hate rich people who have 'done it the hard way' isn't he telling those of his supporters who have a flutter on the lottery (probably the majority) that if they win the Labour party will hate their guts?
Right. And apparently O. J. (simpleton) has never heard the old expression "To give the Devil [her] due." To say that Lady Thatcher is praiseworthy of nothing is to expose oneself as straight outta Animal Farm, "Four-legs-good-two-legs-bad", in one's total hatred of a woman who instilled some hope back into the British people. I find it rich indeed for him to parrot "It wuz all Fatcha's fawt innit?" when he's barely old enough to remember her premiership, if indeed he does at all. Ed M was a teenager then, Owen-- he might remember a bit more about her than you do. Of course, Ed M would rejoin with "But of course, that sense of hope was betrayed by the effects of her policies" or some such formulaic walk-back of any endorsement of Maggie, but at least he'd be smart not to deny her place in history.
I agree with Helen.
People make mistakes in the media every day. Once made, it's how you redress them that's important.
Comparing a tweet, which was corrected soon afterwards, to a front page article which the editor stood by for 23 years until being forced to apologise this week misses this point.
You've said today that he should have checked his facts before 'flying off the handle'.
Maybe, but standing by your argument when others point out its flaws is also a bit like the former Sun editor isn't it??
"Maybe, but standing by your argument when others point out its flaws is also a bit like the former Sun editor isn't it??"
@Helen - That would be a fair point if there was a convincing argument against what I had said but all I have done is suggest Owen should be more careful when tweeting in anger and check his sources. I pointed out this is one thing that MacKenzie was also guilty of. Not that Owen is *exactly* like Kelvin.
There's a reason why OJ's nickname is Subbuteo...
Owen Jones talks and writes absolute cack. He blocks any one that gets the better of him in a debate online. He blocked myself; Brokermandaniel. I asked him "had he ever been approached by UK Security Services for recruitment?"
This was in response to his Assange stance which is totally at odds with his politcal nature. Owen Jones works for The Man!
I'm still waiting for Owen to answer the question.
Maybe, but standing by your argument when others point out its flaws is also a bit like the former Sun editor isn't it??"
@Helen - That would be a fair point if there was a convincing argument against what I had said but all I have done is suggest Owen should be more careful when tweeting in anger and check his sources. I pointed out this is one thing that MacKenzie was also guilty of. Not that Owen is *exactly* like Kelvin.
It wasn't Helen that said that comment!! Oh dear, you should check your sources.
Easily done isn't it Kelvin, sorry, Mark?!
I totally agree with Owen that MacKenzie is a vile individual
'Liberal' used to mean something altogether differnt and espouse other values than those on display here.
In a similar vein, Owen re-tweeted that Maria Miller picture with a load of made up 'facts' about her voting record on gay rights. Not only did he not check it, but after it has been revealed as a hoax he still has it on his twitter feed.
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