Discussing the British Press, and I'm reminded of the time when I had a moderate amount of celebrity in the UK LGBT community, and the press tried to do a hit piece on me.
Now here's the thing. There's a cheat code, and I'm going to explain what it is:
They will contact you for comment.
If you say nothing, they will publish the piece and say you were offered the chance to comment.
If you tell them to fuck off, they will publish the price and say your response was foul and unprintable.
I did neither of these things. I told them that this piece wasn't journalism. It was ridiculous tittle tattle and represented everything that was wrong with a failing and dying industry more obsessed with clickbait than proper reporting. I asked them if they didn't have proper news to report, and said that they should be ashamed of themselves.
They're basically screwed at that point. "We contacted Ms Brown for comment and she said that this was ridiculous tittle tattle and that the reporter should be ashamed of herself."
They're not gonna say that.
I'm struck by something one of my history teachers once said about medieval castles. They weren't meant to be impregnable. They were meant to be annoying enough that an invading army would decide to investigate other priorities instead.
The piece never ran.
If you're a trans person in the crosshairs of the British press, make yourself an annoying target. They're on a deadline, and if you make them conclude that life is too short, they will leave you the fuck alone.
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Ted
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •Don_Rubiel
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •The Boobook
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •@VickiWoodward
Sin Vega
in reply to The Boobook • • •squaregoldfish
in reply to The Boobook • • •Mel and Sue did this when they were presenters of the Great British Bake Off. If the pressure was really getting to any contestants they knew it would be used in the standard reality TV exploitation, so they'd just swear constantly to make the footage unusable.
Susi Arnott
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •John Caveney woke is me🛠️
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sagebiel
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in reply to Sarah Brown • • •wizzwizz4
Unknown parent • • •@metacosm It's the thing that is done, and there's a *kind* of obligation. See, for example, the Editor's Code (https://www.editorscode.org.uk/downloads/codebook/codebook-2023.pdf p21):
> If you can demonstrate your story is true, then it is unlikely that you will breach the Code if you do not approach the parties involved for comment. And if individuals have not been approached and dispute the story after publication, it is wise to publish their denial as swiftly as possible – unless you can prove the story is true.
WarmasterPalak
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •The goal of a castle was indeed to make any siege cost more in time and manpower than it would take to break the castle. Holding out until allies could arrive, winter could set in, or food stocks in the surrounding area could be exhausted was the point. But it was a gamble because, if the invaders broke through, the retribution for forcing the siege would be terrible indeed.
The press doesn't have nearly that kind of power behind them. I love the idea of using their own impotence against them.
Another Angry Woman
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in reply to Another Angry Woman • • •Patsy (she/her)
in reply to Advanced Persistent Teapot • • •So it's a win-win strategy
rodlux
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •SeriousMoonlight
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Seth should be writing
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •I LOVE this. It's so much better and more effective than the normal strategy people suggest for bullies which is "ignore it and they'll go away". No they won't.
Become and annoying target! Make them rethink their priorities if they're not going to get what they want out of you without a ton of effort.
volkris
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •Seems to me they’re not screwed at all, as they can either flat out lie or hedge with, “did not reply to our question by press time.”
Which is technically true: even if you replied to their email, if your response didn’t answer their question, then they can simply say you didn’t answer their question.
Sadly, the only real solution to this problem is for the general public to move to better press outfits, which is an issue coming and going, the lack of better press outfits PLUS a public that kind of likes the rubbish.
like jam or bootlaces
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Unknown parent • • •Strypey
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •> [the British press] They're on a deadline, and if you make them conclude that life is too short, they will leave you the fuck alone.
That's fucking gold, thanks for sharing it.
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The Animal and the Machine
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Excellent advice!