BRFR Cake Stop 'breaking news' miscellany

[briantrumpet]

To be fair to the BBC, the mealy-mouthness and passive voice usage ("The houses of ethnic minorities in Belfast didn’t ’go on fire’ last night - as my radio has told me - they were set alight") is widespread, but one might have hoped they would be setting an example for others to follow.

https://skywriter.blue/@nasarmeer.bsky.social/3mnxfbsyfs22k

@nasarmeer.bsky.social
June 10, 2026 at 7:57 PM GMT+1

Having spent the day, much like every other day at present, listening to journalists and broadcasters restate unsubstantiated claims, and elide the fact of difference with a trigger for racist violence, here are simple rules even Chris Mason might grasp. ⬇️

1. Do not repeat rumours as context! If a claim is unverified, say so clearly. Stop laundering racist misinformation through phrases like "concerns have been raised" or "people are saying".

2. Please distinguish the the fact of difference from a justification. The presence of migrants, Muslims, Black or minority ethnic people, asylum seekers, or religious difference is not an explanation for racist violence. Racism is.

3. Name racist violence when it is racist violence. They are not "protests", "disorder", "community tensions", or "clashes" when people are being targeted because of race, religion, ethnicity, or migration status.

4. Repeat to yourselves: victims are not responsible for the violence against them, so stop framing communities under attack as a “flashpoint” or “source of tension”. The relevant question is who is organising, excusing, enabling, or participating in racist intimidation.

5. Report the pattern, not just the event. Each incident sits in a wider climate of far-right mobilisation, online disinformation, political rhetoric, institutional failures, and the normalisation of anti-migrant and anti-Muslim hostility. Basically, do some journalism...

 

[Psamathe]

... I mean, it is utterly ludicrous that Starmer is *still* defending using X as a communication vector when that vector is actively trying to make the UK ungovernable. They should stop using it at the very least, if not threatening to ban it, as Brazil did, if it insists on fomenting violence.

Report yesterday in Guardian

Elon Musk’s X not facing action from UK government over posts inciting violence in Belfast
Elon Musk’s X will face no action to remove a mass of posts inciting violence in Northern Ireland for at least two months, despite widespread condemnation of the platform and its billionaire owner.

Concern over the role social media played in spreading disturbing images and fuelling anger continued to grow on Wednesday as police and community leaders urged calm.

 

[briantrumpet]

Report yesterday in Guardian

Utterly pathetic. Rewarding the abuser, rather than penalising them. No logic or guts whatsoever.

 

[Pblakeney]

To be fair to the BBC, the mealy-mouthness and passive voice usage ("The houses of ethnic minorities in Belfast didn’t ’go on fire’ last night - as my radio has told me - they were set alight") is widespread, but one might have hoped they would be setting an example for others to follow.

https://skywriter.blue/@nasarmeer.bsky.social/3mnxfbsyfs22k

@nasarmeer.bsky.social
June 10, 2026 at 7:57 PM GMT+1

Having spent the day, much like every other day at present, listening to journalists and broadcasters restate unsubstantiated claims, and elide the fact of difference with a trigger for racist violence, here are simple rules even Chris Mason might grasp. ⬇️

1. Do not repeat rumours as context! If a claim is unverified, say so clearly. Stop laundering racist misinformation through phrases like "concerns have been raised" or "people are saying".

2. Please distinguish the the fact of difference from a justification. The presence of migrants, Muslims, Black or minority ethnic people, asylum seekers, or religious difference is not an explanation for racist violence. Racism is.

3. Name racist violence when it is racist violence. They are not "protests", "disorder", "community tensions", or "clashes" when people are being targeted because of race, religion, ethnicity, or migration status.

4. Repeat to yourselves: victims are not responsible for the violence against them, so stop framing communities under attack as a “flashpoint” or “source of tension”. The relevant question is who is organising, excusing, enabling, or participating in racist intimidation.

5. Report the pattern, not just the event. Each incident sits in a wider climate of far-right mobilisation, online disinformation, political rhetoric, institutional failures, and the normalisation of anti-migrant and anti-Muslim hostility. Basically, do some journalism...

6. Ban X.

Why not? It is inciting riots. Other groups have been proscribed for the same reason.