Modern journalism is a joke, isn't it?

[NImumconfused]

This article came up on my news feed this morning - I don't think I've seen something so shambolic, it doesn't even make sense! It's a few rambling remarks, "brutal takedown" couldn't be further from the truth.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/jk-rowling-jinkx-monsoon-trans-harry-potter-b2801311.html

Yes, it is a joke

The Independent is a joke, which is sad because it used to be a proper paper. There is still real journalism out there.

That is a joke, but obviously with men like Monsoon they aren't capable of seeing beyond their own narcissistic nose.

You're right, but I'm just disappointed the Independent is such a shadow of its former self these days. Even aside from the flimsiness of the subject matter, that article is utterly incoherent.

Ah, they took that from the Penis Pink News original report. The Independent is just a website now, I wouldn't even call it "journalism".

https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/08/01/jinkx-monsoon-jk-rowling-interview/

Can anyone sum up the “brutal takedown” so I don’t have to give them any more traffic ?

The Independent has been a shitrag for some time. It's a far cry from the excellent paper I did some in-depth analysis on at college 20 years ago. It's hard to know where to get decent news these days when the Guardian and Independent are a joke, the Times and Telegraph are behind a paywall, the Evening Standard has gone down the toilet, BBC news online doesn't even run all the stories they put on the radio news and hides anything they can behind "regions" so you only see what you go looking for, and even then they only ever write half a story, and the tabloids are still... tabloids.

They're fully TWAW.

Some surprisingly JKR-supportive comments under the article.

I bet the Independent hates that!

I think it's "snerrr snerrrr you use a male pen name isn't that hypocritical? Because it means you identify as... a male..." [gotcha pose, pout to cameras while hoping to god they get the column inches so they can desperately stay relevant].

The "brutal takedown" is her use of the initials JK - apparently it sounds like Jake - “That is not a feminine name in the slightest” said this irrelevant bloke

Ha ha, good point! Lots of sensible people commenting.

The unpaid intern will be going through all of them later to delete the wrongthink

Whenever I see the workds brutal takedown I know it will be something petty and neither witty nor clever. JK makes mincemeat of them every time

I haven't read the article. But I would imagine that she used initials when an unknown author as male authors likely to have more success, certainly back when HP first published.

Currer, Acton and Ellis are spinning in their graves. 😡

Yes, her publisher told her to use initials so as not to put little boys off from reading the book, rather depressingly. Even with a male lead character whose name was in the title they thought if it was obvious the book was by a woman some boys would assume it was too girly for them.

Yes, yet another example of how some males don't understand the barriers women can face.
From the article:
Rowling has previously opened up about going by the pen name, telling CNN in 2017 that it wasn’t her idea to use it. Instead, it was her publisher who was trying to “disguise [her] gender.”
“I was so grateful to be published, if they told me to call myself Rupert, I probably would have done to be honest with you,” she said. “But now, I actually quite like having a pen name, because I feel that’s — to an extent, that feels like an identity and then I’m — in private life, I’m Jo Murray. And it feels like quite a nice separation.”

The Independent taught me that hyperbole is what passes for journalism on their site. 'Hilarious' will be, at best, faintly amusing. Shit rag nowadays. So many ads crowding the screen it's barely readable and click bait in lieu of interesting articles.

Clickbait. But you clicked and shared, and we even have a link to the original article, so pretty good journalism from a financial point of view.

So what? People can click if they want, or don't.
Reading from all perspectives is valuable

For sure. But I do feel it feeds into the "let them speak" aspect. The more people who see this nonsense, the better.

Anyway, as you say, the Independent is mostly just TWAW clickbait these days. Sad times.

We could say that about other publications too (I can't bring myself to call them newspapers), most notably The Guardian, which used to be a brilliant newspaper back in the days of James Cameron, Jill Tweedie, Nancy Banks Smith, Mary Stott et al.

That bit in The Independent is just pointless, inaccurate and bitchy.

Just a few bitchy, sneering comments.

You haven't missed anything.

@NImumconfused The worst thing is reading all the bad spelling and the horrific grammar in newspapers nowadays!! How some people manage to attain a journalism degree is anyone's guess!!