commentators: The Independent: More chameleon than green

Newspapers are not exactly models of consistency.

The Daily Mail preaches family values in its leader columns but its feature pages are full of tittle tattle about celebrities and their lifestyles. It is often editorialising in favour of true religion but Jonathan Cainer's horoscopes are used to sell the newspaper.

David Willetts once criticised the tendency of The Telegraph to tell the Tory Party to remain true to its core principles whilst it was constantly reinventing itself with more liberal and culturally leftish features.

For stinking hypocrisy, however, yesterday's Independent takes the biscuit. This was one of the messages of its news pages in a feature entitled 'Ten things you can do at home' (to fight global warming:

"HOLIDAY IN THE UK

Giving up on foreign trips will help cut down aviation emissions. A flight to Athens emits 2,336kg of CO2 per passenger."

But The Independent isn't exactly putting its wallet where its editorial mouth is. The image on the right is a reproduction of the contents guide to its Traveller Section. The encouragement to holiday in Britain gets about 25 words. Encouragements to travel around the world get 28 pages. Adverts in the newspaper include...

Discover Syria...

Journey Latin America...

91 flights a week to Dubai...

Book now for festive fun in Lapland...

Smile! You are in Spain...

Innsbruck-Tirol; Fly midweek from £79 return...

Sydney £569...

The list of adverts for foreign travel goes on and on...

Remember that hypocrisy next time you read The Indy and are faced with one of its poster frontpages urging governments to take Kyoto-style environmental action.

I wonder where its editor holidays? Or Tim Yeo for that matter...

Comments

This comment is spot on, and serves to underline the utter hypocrysy running right through the way almost all politicians, and businesses pay lip service to the current issue of global warming. It reminds me of the way people used to treat religion in an earlier age. There is an obvious comparison with the way millionaire socialists talk of combating poverty, while continuing to amass their vast fortunes.

Is it any wonder that the public is so cynical about politicians?

Posted by: Derek | December 04, 2005 at 21:10

I've always thought that the "Independent" was vulnerable under the Trade Description Act.

Posted by: Matt Wright | December 06, 2005 at 03:25

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Posted by: Marva Hewitt | December 21, 2007 at 13:10