A journalist of fifty years standing offers a personal and independent assessment of the often troubled relationship between public figures and the British news media.
My aim is to try to monitor events and issues affecting the ethics of journalism and the latest developments in the rapidly-changing world of press, television, radio and the Internet.
Expect too an insight into the black arts of media manipulation. So spin-doctors, Beware!
Tony Blair’s disturbing hold over the political and media elites of America can be traced back to 9/11 and the way he catapulted himself to the forefront of world attention.
To British audiences his tribute to the “People’s Princess” might be regarded as one of the defining soundbites of his Premiership but in the USA he gained the accolade of being the first western leader to make sense of the unfolding drama surrounding the attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Centre.
Phone hacking at the News of the World was not simply the “tip of the iceberg of journalistic bad practice” but one of many damning “icebergs” which would be revealed by the Leveson Inquiry. This is the bleak assessment of Mark Lewis, solicitor for the parents of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler. He was at the forefront of the Hacked Off campaign for the widest possible investigation into the conduct of Rupert Murdoch’s journalists.
While groups campaigning against the abuse of media power wait impatiently for the start of the Leveson Inquiry into phone hacking at the News of the World, activists should not lose sight of more pressing opportunities to force the Coalition government to act.
Two issues present themselves for instant scrutiny.
· Should the public interest test be strengthened in case of surprise takeover moves in media ownership?
· Declarations made so far about meetings between ministers and media executives make a mockery of David Cameron’s promise to strength the ministerial code of conduct.
Declarations made so far about the meetings which have been held between ministers and media proprietors make a mockery of David Cameron’s promise of a new era of openness. If there is to be accountability and an end to the collusion of previous years, there has to be a meaningful explanation of the nature and outcome of all such discussions.
Cameron and his cabinet colleagues have honoured their undertaking to list meetings with media executives and editors in the fifteen months since the general election but they have hidden behind euphemisms such as “general discussion” and failed to reveal either the extent or purpose of their deliberations.
Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry has been charged with the task of recommending new measures to govern the “future conduct of relations between politicians and the press.” The only way to ensure these relationships are properly policed is by enforcing a code of conduct which requires full transparency on the part of both the government and shadow ministers.
David Cameron’s promise that Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry into the phone hacking scandal will have the power to call Prime Ministers past and present to give evidence, could open up a Pandora ’s Box of examples where senior politicians have bowed to the hidden commercial agendas of media proprietors.
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