Yesterday, in Dale Farm, United Kingdom, the council began to evict a group of Irish Travellers from a piece of land. Both sides had support from public, though the council had the heavier, riot geared kind - an advantage to be sure.
The situation occurred because a group of travellers purchased said land 10 years previously. This land was purchased 50km outside of London and next to another plot of land that had been purchased by travellers and built upon. At some stage during all of this, the Irish travellers began building on this land. While there were graphic photos and descriptions of the clash between the two groups, the media (who should be ashamed at their irresponsible reporting of the situation - biased and lacking appropriate research) does not explain whether or not the travellers ever applied for building permits nor whether said permits were denied or just not inquired about. However, it does raise an important question.
Why was the land sold to the Irish Travellers in the first place? Surely, given the nature of the community, and the location of the land (right next to another travelling community) it would've been understood that they would eventually begin building on the land?
Why did the media not research the information properly so that it could responsibly report on the situation, rather than fuelling the ignorant and negative views about this Irish community?
There has always been an opening for opinion columns and the like, however, I have noticed a serious lack of responsibility in the media recently. News is information, not based on agendas of opinion, war mongering, fear inducing, sensationalism or ratings. Why has this been allowed to change?
In a community of ever tighter time constraints, when reading bylines suffices for news updates, there should be even stricter guidelines on the quality of news being published/broadcast.
Why have I not seen/read/heard about others speaking out about this?
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