At the going down and rising of The Sun
The police have been rounding up and shooting journalists from “The Sun”. Actually that is a lie. But they have been hauled in en masse by the Boys and Girls in Blue, and generally grilled (about what is a little unclear, perhaps there has been something “off message” in the “Dear Deirdre” column).
Former Sun editor Trevor Kavanagh wrote an article in that paper complaining that journalists are being treated “like members of an organized criminal gang”. He also appeared on the Richard Bacon show to repeat his complaints and expand on his complaints. The interview can be heard here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00p4k2h
I would beg to differ. I would be surprised if an organized criminal gang received such attention in Topsy Turvy Britain, a land where the criminal gangs seem to prosper whilst pensioners starve and, those who attend to the urgent needs of pensioners in distress are sacked and stripped of their jobs.
In any event, according to Mr. Kavanagh there are now no less than 171 officers involved in three different investigations into the Press; if taken together that would be perhaps the largest police operation of all time, larger even than the Lockerbie investigation. And one might say that if the Milly Dowler case had been given that level of resources, it might have been concluded a little earlier than it was.
Some 30 Sun journalists have been arrested. Many in dawn raids. I hear reports of squads of up to 20 police officers attending, turning houses upside down and journalists being treated with extreme discourtesy. What seems to be going on is an investigation into not just phone hacking but “corruption”, that is payments by journalists to police and other public officials for information.
Kavanagh makes the case that there is something of an agenda behind this for those who hate News International and Rupert Murdoch in particular.
I think he has a point. No one would seek to justify a culture of “industrial” phone hacking. But it is not industrial murder. It needs a sensible and proportionate police investigation and a hefty fine or two, and maybe a few choice individuals need to be guests at one of Her Majesty’s especially secure guest houses for a few months (bearing in mind that this of course costs the tax payer money).
As for “corruption”, can we get over this? Serious cases of bribery which might prejudice an investigation should be treated as such. I suspect from time to time this has gone on. In such cases the perpetrators need to be caught and prosecuted, and if police officers are proved to have been involved then they must be dismissed. But for as long as there has been a police force the Press and the Boys and Girls in Blue have had a close and somewhat seedy relationship. Anyone who doesn’t think that pints are bought, mutual tip offs are given and, yes, fivers are exchanged in plain brown envelopes is living in cloud cuckoo land. Of course it needs to be reigned in when possible. But I have doubt that what is going on here is a fishing expedition in which the police are happy to display a new found rigour to their political Lords and Masters.
The police are a highly attuned political interest group; one look at ACPO’s distasteful general lobbying and money making offshoots shows it. In a world in which big budget cuts are on the agenda, playing the attack dog for those in political power and influence is a no brainer.
Kavanagh’s point is well made. It is not a question of turning a blind eye to criminal behavior; it is a case in which there is an Establishment sub text to kick back against a press which they would seek to muzzle. In the forefront of those seeking State regulation of the Press is of course Alistair Campbell, a man who enjoyed huge political influence, but who was never elected, and whose sole purpose in professional life was to get the Press to toe the government line by whatever means. And that is putting it politely. No surprise then to find him calling for statutory regulation of the Press.
Just because we have a change in government, do not believe that there is a change in climate. In the modern political age all governments seek control of information, and anything which might rock the boat is perceived as a threat.
MP’s never really did get over the severe kicking they got once the appalling details of their corrupt expenses were spread all over the papers. Details which Speaker Martin fought like a tiger to prevent being disclosed, and which were finally obtained, if I remember correctly, by a little bit of theft and with a cash transaction being involved.
Of course I do not know Rupert Murdoch, and I would not be surprised to find that he is a pretty ruthless character who has many a skeleton in the closet, and that there may well be quite a few bodies buried “Brookside style” under the Murdoch patio too for good measure. I suspect you don’t get to be a billionaire media mogul by baking cup cakes.
And I accept there is good reason to be concerned by media barons. Men like Robert Maxwell, for example (who did good “outrage” as I recall, and used his legal attack dogs to muzzle the Press until he finally went both literally and metaphorically overboard).
I accept that there have been intrusive and illegal practices by the Press. I accept that there is every reason to make sure that media barons do not overly appropriate the control of information to themselves.
I also accept that Mr. Murdoch is highly able man who appears to me to display at least one admirable quality, namely loyalty to those who are loyal to him (not a quality much in evidence amongst the political classes); that I find my Sky subscription pretty good value for money; and that if I was stuck in a lifeboat a very long way from land I would rather intuitively prefer it to be in the company of Rupert and Wendi Deng-Murdoch than Alistair Campbell and Tom Watson MP. I feel I would have less chance of having my throat cut and ending up on the menu.
In short, the whole matter is being taken completely out of proportion and there is frenzy for blood lust and revenge within the Westminster Tented Village and its newly acquired principality, Luvvie-Land. Whilst I am probably guilty of falling pray to the pre-Raphaelite charms of Rebekah Brooks, I found the atmosphere of the whole Home Affairs Select Committee phone hacking inquiry something in the nature of a nasty Stalinist or Spanish Inquisition show trial.
So I am pleased that Murdoch plans to show signs of striking back with the announcement of the forthcoming Sunday Sun. Besides, frankly my Sunday has been incomplete of late. There are certain things which should be partaken of by a gentleman on a Sunday morning (no, not that).
I need my low fat yoghurt, followed by fresh skinny cappuccino, some freshly grilled rashers of bacon and poached eggs and toast and The Sunday Times Sports Section, leader page and magazine (in that order), perhaps crisply ironed by my valet, and then The Economist. But man does not live by bread and analysis alone, and there is nothing better than a good old dose of third rate celeb based tittle tattle to accompany that second coffee and a pain au chocolat. I have been insufficiently titillated of late by the appropriate inclusion of words and phrases such a “bonk”, “topless”, “betrayal”, “vice girl”, “love child”, “whiplash” and of course, the old favourite “romp”, all inserted in titles which will usually include some improbable multiplier and someone I have never heard of from ‘Enders.
So good news to have “The Screws” Mark II back.
On a more serious note, for all its crass intrusions and hurtful half truths, the value of a free press outweighs the damage it causes. A sense of proportion is needed in dealing with these issues. It is a short step from the dawn raid to the uncontrolled knock on the door in the night. The press must fight back! The State must back off!
Gildas the Monk
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February 21, 2012 at 13:08 -
Start again – sorry, stray pinky on the keyboard!
Anyway, Trev is a bit of a whiner isn’t he? They are getting the kind of treatment they served up to others. I am not talking about slebs here. In all the hurumphing about Shuggie Grant we’ve forgotten the dreadful stories of harrassment visited on ordinary people to whom extra-ordinary and frequently awful things happened. I accept that these stories are from the past, particularly the rotten treatment meted out to the Watsons. But its a bit hard to hear Trevor banging on about the rights of Journalists. He would have no problem if this number of officers were investigating free pints bought for politicians.
Having said that, the Common committee and its pompous posturing and pointless aggression raised my blood pressure to a higher level. I am not a fan of any of those preening primadonnas, all too aware of how their little soundbites would play in the – irony of ironies – media. Watson: mafia? really? Oh grow up. And Keith Vaz lecturing anyone about ethics is just laughable.
I don’t have any time for the idea of state interference in the press but I am sorry, I don’t believe the PCC can carry on as it is. It is NOT a regulator at present, I do wish people would stop referring to it as such.
Alastair Campbell was unelected – as are editors and journalists and yet they have a huge impact on political debate. They decide what news we read about, they decide how they will write about it and they decide what facts they will or will not use. And some of them have been out of control for a variety of reasons – some of which involves the nature of our political process. So somethings got to change. Leveson seems a fairly sensible chap – I enjoy his careful choice of words in some exchanges. I’ll wait to see what happens.
Favourite tabloid headline: Paddy Pantsdown -
February 21, 2012 at 12:48 -
I have found Trevor Kavanaghs bleating about the treatment of journalists by the police amusing and infuriating in eq
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February 19, 2012 at 11:45 -
There are two areas in British life where there are massive injustices going on on a daily basis – the family courts around divorce and social services and the treatment of the mentally incapable.
Both exist because of the exclusion of the media…
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February 19, 2012 at 15:15 -
There is an important point in there…
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February 19, 2012 at 18:30 -
Families are not “sexy” as far as the liberal elite judges are concerned , only Gays , people from abroad and all the other misfits.
Ordinary people can just take it and suffer
Wouldnt it be nice to have a legal system which treated all equally and was based on what the “person” on the Clapham Omnibus thought was right.
On second thoughts this would probably mean Sharia law now!-
February 19, 2012 at 21:21 -
Wow
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February 19, 2012 at 08:25 -
“….the value of a free press outweighs the damage it causes…”
Assuming one is not a seriously busy, crooked plod.
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February 19, 2012 at 08:03 -
Hear! Hear!
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February 19, 2012 at 07:44 -
I agree – long live a free press. It is no accident that the official ‘regulators’ almost never uncover failure or wrongdoing and when they do the matter gets covered up. They do not work for us, neither does the Sun but it does make money uncovering muck and we need muck to be uncovered.
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February 19, 2012 at 08:04 -
Hear, hear! to all that. Most of the dissenters seem to have a dislike of Rupert Murdoch at the centre of their argument, without thinking what the alternative would be. If you don’t like monopolies, first get rid of the most insulting one, the BBC, which is a monopoly based on financial duplicity.
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February 19, 2012 at 06:54 -
It should never be forgotten that you don’t have to buy, read, or believe any newspaper if you don’t want to.
But just imagine living in an appalling tyranny where you had to take out a subscription to a state owned newspaper before you were allowed to read any other. That’s exactly the situation with the BBC and television.
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February 19, 2012 at 07:20 -
Spot on!
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February 19, 2012 at 08:48 -
Quite so!
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February 19, 2012 at 11:46
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{ 18 comments }