Loose Women? Loose editorial control? Or is ITV playing fast and very loose with honesty?

• Everyone in the homeopathic, and indeed the whole natural medical community, understands that the mainstream media supports the conventional medical establishment to the point of complicity.

• We no longer, expect to see fair or even honest reporting on medical issues in the press, or on the broadcast media. It has not happened for 15-20 years!

One of my doughty colleagues, Grace da Silva, recently watched the ITV programme, Loose Women, and noticed that they were running a poll. The question posed was whether parents who did not vaccinate their children should be fined - a topical issue considering that our government is considering the introduction of mandatory vaccination. So she decided to vote, and whilst doing so, she noted the voting figures.

The result was duly announced. There was a huge majority for the imposition of fines - a massive 70% in favour of fining parents, and only 30% against. Grace was aghast, and she tells me that she took 3 minutes to complain to the programme.

On 24th October 2019 'Loose Women' gave an apology, and gave out the correct poll result - 70% against fining patients, and 30% in favour of fines. They had made a 'mistake'! We were told that it has human error! There was, however, no explanation of why such an human error could ever have been made. Apparently several people complained to Ofcom so ITV had no option but to tell the truth. Yet serious questions arise.

• Was it really a mistake?
• Is it possible that ITV did not just got the result wrong, but actually reversed it?
• Was there no editorial oversight?
• Would a correction have been made if there had no complaints?

As another colleague told me, an former TV producer, it would be highly unlikely that this was "human error", that everything, and especially programme content, is checked, double checked. She said that if she had allowed that kind of "mistake" on her job she would have been fired! She said that this was not just editorial control; there would be many other crew members whose job it would have been check everything.

The mainstream media regularly and gratuitously attacks homeopathy, natural medicine generally. It also provides the conventional medical establishment with an uncritical outlet for its propaganda. Yet does this 'mistake' mean that they are prepared to go further?

• To raise support for the policy of the conventional medical establishment?
• To provide the pharmaceutical industry with a captive and obligatory market for their drugs?

Just how important are pharmaceutical advertising revenues to ITV, and the mainstream media generally?