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   goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Aug-2023 08:20:44 JST goatsarah

   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.

   • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Sune Auken (suneauken@mastodon.world)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Aug-2023 19:29:17 JST Sune Auken

     in reply to

     @goatsarah

     This is some fine #genre analysis, I salute you.

     goatsarah likes this.
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     VoxofGod (voxofgod@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Aug-2023 23:25:58 JST VoxofGod

     in reply to

     @goatsarah I grew up in the public eye and I'm traumatized for my whole life from being excoriated into exile as a toddler because of bad media scandal stories

     I love this

     goatsarah likes this.
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     Another Angry Woman (stavvers@masto.ai)'s status on Thursday, 24-Aug-2023 04:39:04 JST Another Angry Woman

     in reply to

     @goatsarah similar tip from doing press office stuff for the Vagina Museum: we get the occasional fucking awful requests for comment on what's clearly going to be a hit piece about a post using gender neutral language. Always reply with something steering away, e.g. if it was sparked by ovarian cancer they'd get a reply to the effect of "ovarian cancer is very serious. Here's the symptoms, it's important to be aware" and they'd never print it because they never wanted to talk about the real

     goatsarah likes this.
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     SeriousMoonlight (seriousmoonlight@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 24-Aug-2023 10:15:50 JST SeriousMoonlight

     in reply to

     • Sarah

     @goatsarah LOL! High five! Great advice!

     goatsarah likes this.
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     Another Angry Woman (stavvers@masto.ai)'s status on Thursday, 24-Aug-2023 10:33:39 JST Another Angry Woman

     in reply to

     • Advanced Persistent Teapot

     @http_error_418 @goatsarah honestly, if a journalist ever requests comment on something controversial, assume it's in terrible faith because it definitely will be

     goatsarah likes this.
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     Advanced Persistent Teapot (http_error_418@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 24-Aug-2023 10:33:40 JST Advanced Persistent Teapot

     in reply to

     • Another Angry Woman

     @stavvers @goatsarah are there any good guides on "here are the red flags that an article is going to be a hit piece"?

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     Strypey (strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz)'s status on Tuesday, 29-Aug-2023 02:33:59 JST Strypey

     in reply to

     @goatsarah
     > [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.

     goatsarah likes this.