Media Archives - The Naton State

Damn! Now I Must Defend Piers Morgan

11 March 202119 March 2021 - by Charles Naton - Leave a Comment

I’m not really a fan of Piers Morgan.

Having watched his performances for many years now, I’ve concluded that, much like Tony Blair, the only guiding principle he really adheres to is that of self-promotion. No doubt his dramatic departure from ITV has cleared the way for his transition to yet-to-be-launched GB News. Fortuitous timing or what!

I don’t think there are many people in the English-speaking world who haven’t figured out that Piers Morgan is a self-aggrandising loudmouth, who takes every opportunity to elbow his way into the news he’s supposed to be reporting. Still, the man’s been a linchpin of the infotainment industry for a long time now and we can’t really condemn him for doing his job enthusiastically.

Being outspoken and controversial has been a solid gold career choice for Piers Morgan, so I have no doubt the show will go on. And on. And on.

Having said all that, nothing I’ve written even comes close to justifying his de facto dismissal from ITV, and for what? Well, the unconscionable crime of voicing an opinion shared by countless millions throughout the world.

America’s Media Massacre

4 December 20206 December 2020 - by Charles Naton - Leave a Comment

This is my first blog post in quite a while, for two main reasons. Firstly, because I’ve had some personal stuff to deal with; and secondly, because I’ve been waiting for the dust to settle around the US presidential election.

Despite what CNN or Fox News might say, it’s not at all clear who the rightful victor in the 2020 presidential election actually is. One thing we do know for sure is that anyone who still advocates voting by mail and electronic counting after this embarrassing goat rodeo is not to be trusted. With anything. Ever.

This situation is disturbing and depressing enough by itself, but the corporate media’s rigid denials that anything could possibly be amiss is nothing less than establishment propaganda. I wish I could say I was surprised about this startling lack of journalistic curiosity, but I’m not. Is anyone?

Despite the agreed media mantra of “no evidence”, the list of sworn affidavits, video footage, statistical anomalies and their resulting investigations is growing by the day. Something’s rotten in swing-state America and we all know it.

Corporate media’s refusal to even ask about this growing litany of electoral strangeness will not help it repair its already shredded reputation. I’m not sure if anything can do that now, but a good place to start would surely be debunking the outlandish conspiracy theories tweeted hourly by President Orange Man and his fascistic enablers. You’d think that CNN et al would be falling over themselves to make literally the worst person in the world look incredibly stupid, yet there is virtual silence from corporate America’s news rooms. Why is that, I wonder?

Brexit / Media

The Immortal Brexit Conspiracy Theory

13 October 202014 October 2020 - by Charles Naton - Leave a Comment

So now we know. After three years of investigation at huge expense to the taxpayer, the Information Commissioner has found no evidence that Cambridge Analytica and its phantom Russian backers had any significant influence on the Brexit referendum. Now the natural question is how such an obvious conspiracy theory came to be taken seriously by a supposedly well-informed political class in the first place.

In truth, it’s not especially hard to explain the establishment’s irrational behaviour since the Brexit referendum. The endless search for scapegoats and shadowy international players is a helpful distraction from any meaningful introspection.

Whether it’s Russian trolls, social media manipulation or adverts on buses, the search for some explanatory Brexit aberration continues unabated.

While this sudden diversion down Conspiracy Cul-de-sac is a mystery to the average Brexit voter, it makes perfect sense to a large class of people who’ve spent their whole lives exercising political and cultural authority. How else can they explain that authority being rejected in the most spectacular fashion at the very moment it mattered most?

The Cambridge Analytica and Boris Bus controversies are proof positive that our cultural and political establishment have been living in a self-reinforcing bubble for many decades now. As a result of this detachment from our shared reality, a large chunk of the political class remains psychologically unable to grasp that the majority of the electorate sees a very different world to the one they inhabit. After all, if most voters believed the European Union was a net benefit, Britain would simply have voted Remain.

Culture / Media

The BBC is Doomed

6 September 20206 September 2020 - by Charles Naton - Leave a Comment

Wow! That was fast!

When the BBC’s new director-general gave his inaugural speech on September 3, he made it very clear that the era of political activism disguised as journalism was coming to an end, at least in his organisation.

Not surprisingly, this hard-line stance was applauded by pundits and public alike, all of whom are heartily sick of advocates and activists taking potshots from Television Centre, before ducking back behind the corporation’s solid defences of state patronage and a uniquely coercive funding model. For most of us in alternative media it was music to the ears.

The only problem with Tim Davie’s excellent speech was that it meant absolutely nothing.

According to the Telegraph, less than 24 hours after the new DG’s much lauded words were uttered, the BBC had quietly told the most egregious impartiality offenders that they would not in fact be subject to the same conduct rules as the rank and file sweating away on the shop floor.

It would be hard to script a political satire featuring a more blatant example of establishment hypocrisy than this. For all those at W1A who are still scratching their heads over the Brexit vote, the outrageous double standards within your own organisation would be a good place to start looking for answers.

There are two ways in which this situation could have come about. Either Mr Davie made his speech and then quietly let it be known that he didn’t really mean what he’d said, or somebody other than the director-general has given the BBC’s woke warriors the green light to continue doing what the boss has explicitly told them stop doing.

Media / Politics / US Politics

Jessica Krug’s Lucrative Lie

4 September 20206 September 2020 - by Charles Naton - Leave a Comment

Every once in a while we see different news stories collide in such a way that one sheds a revealing light on the other. Such an illuminating convergence has just occurred in the unrelated cases of both Jessica A Krug and Charles Negy. By now there’s a good chance that you’ve heard about Professor Krug confessing to a lifetime of lies about her ethnic background. Her story has baffled and disappointed supporters and observers alike, yet it’s the more obscure case of Professor Negy which gives us some insight into the higher profile story of a white woman posing as a black woman. It isn’t the first time that’s happened.

So what did Professor Negy do to attract the attention of the Guardian newspaper? Well, he did the one thing that’s guaranteed to instantly end a career. He sent the following tweet, questioning the new woke orthodoxy:

“Black privilege is real: Besides affirm. Action [sic], special scholarships and other set asides, being shielded from legitimate criticism is a privilege. But as a group, they’re missing out on much needed feedback.”

It will come as no surprise that Charles Negy is now under investigation by the University of Central Florida as the twittersphere explodes with indignation. This virtue-signalling dogpile serves two purposes; firstly it gives the wokerati a chance to burnish their public credentials. Secondly, and much more importantly; the chorus of organised, indignant screeching creates so much fog and noise that the original idea is quickly forgotten. That is not an accident or an unintended consequence; in fact it’s the whole point of trial by social media in the first place.

So, is Professor Negy right; is black privilege real?