Read on Twitter
THREAD: It's a good thing that #rtept is reporting on the activities of racists and the far right in Ireland, but one has to be very careful about how one goes about it. You might think you are doing rigorous journalism, but no matter how you frame it, they will benefit.
The first mistake #rtept made was in framing this as "the new nationalism" - it is nothing of the sort. It is exactly the same poisonous ideology it has always been. Framing it as "new" benefits the far right as it accepts their narrative that something has changed. It hasn't.
The second error is allowing people to speak on camera. The grifters and racists do not care if you try to ask them hard questions or make them look stupid - in fact, they love it, as it allows them to reinforce the idea that "the elites" and the "MSM" are against them.
The right of reply is always warranted, but that can be done by way of asking for a statement to be read out, rather than giving them mainstream airtime. Those who object to that should ask themselves why Section 31 was so popular when muzzling Sinn Féin and the IRA. Never ...
... put racists on camera.
In denying them a platform, one is often accused of being undemocratic, but racism and fascism are in themselves undemocratic and therefore not entitled to demand inclusion in the niceties of the democratic process. Nor is discussing their "ideas"...
In denying them a platform, one is often accused of being undemocratic, but racism and fascism are in themselves undemocratic and therefore not entitled to demand inclusion in the niceties of the democratic process. Nor is discussing their "ideas"...
... a runner. That discussion is already over. They are not reliable narrators, and they have no interest in facts or reason. Journalists expect a give-and-take, but fascists are only interested in getting as big a platform as possible. If you think you can argue with them you...
... simply become their mark and a tool in the spreading of their ideology and the building of their myths.
There is a tendency in shows like #rtept to think you're cleverer than everybody else - don't do that, because you're not. I've seen the Sweden Democrats here go from ...
There is a tendency in shows like #rtept to think you're cleverer than everybody else - don't do that, because you're not. I've seen the Sweden Democrats here go from ...
.... less than two percent of the vote to almost 20, becoming Sweden's second-largest party in the process, all because they were given a successively greater platform by the media - and one of their leading early members was a volunteer in Hitler's Waffen SS.
If you want to know more about how to deal with racists & fascists as a journalist/editor, start by reading "The Oxygen Of Amplification" by @wphillips49 - you can find the full report here: https://datasociety.net/library/oxygen-of-amplification/
Tl;dr? Under no circumstances should you "hear them out". None.
Tl;dr? Under no circumstances should you "hear them out". None.
