The Zhoosh! Brighton Blog
Concerning a free press
The recent News of the World furore got me thinking. One of the things I value about living in the UK is that we have (at least notionally) a free press. Cameron’s swift volte-face regarding the Press Complaints Commission, to me illustrates the need to clarify what “free” means. Journalists, are you listening?
Free means that you are free to report the news, unencumbered by political pressure (except in the case of certain understandable restrictions based around national security – but that’s a different conversation altogether). It means that you are free to pursue the truth – without undue hindrance – and report it to the people. It most assuredly does not mean that you are free to flout the law, act as if you are the law, or make things up and present them as fact.
We have developed, in this country, an unfortunate tabloid culture. It feeds the reactionary elements in our society and justifies further sensationalism and outright fabrication, presented as factual news items. Do I even need to mention the Daily Mail at this point? That particular “publication” (I refuse to call it a newspaper) is nothing more than a bile-filled hate rag of the worst order. It’s a spittle-fuelled mouthpiece for every middle-England prejudice. It is everything that is wrong with the British press, condensed into daily, bite-size spoonfuls of industrial-strength vitriol and gobbled down greedily and unquestioningly by a slavering, ignorant multitude.
…and breathe.
We need a new PCC. A better PCC. A PCC that is actually independent – of the press and of the government. A PCC that will take newspapers to task on their rabid sensationalism and blatant fabrication of the facts. A PCC that will hold journalism to account and ensure that there are certain standards – of behaviour, of evidence, of public interest – that are met, consistently. And a PCC that will hit the papers – hard – when those standards are breached. That PCC should protect the government from the kind of pressure that the press can exert upon politicians. That PCC should also protect the press, just as robustly, from government interference.
It’s time for a properly accountable – and free – press.
Your piece is spot on James, for too long the daily rags have wailed each time they have had their wrist slapped that they are sorry and that they can regulate themselves. Here’s hoping that now the h Politicians have had their shackles broken from the Murdock empire (fingers crossed) that we will get an independent PCC that will stand up to these rich thugs.
Thanks Glenn. Of course, we mustn’t fall into the trap of heaping this all on Murdoch. This seems to be an endemic problem, inherent in the current newspaper culture. They all need the same scrutiny.