The ongoing News of The World scandal (each day brings fresh headlines of outrageous intrusions and spying) has caused an explosion of indignation and outrage from those spied on (quite rightly so) and the "establishment".
Unsurprisingly, there are calls for news laws to champion privacy and to stop the media from getting up to this sort of nonsense ever again.
However, before an angry mob lights their torches and marches towards the News of The World's HQ with the intention of administering "justice", let us step back and consider what has happened here and what might happen if new laws are hastily rushed through.
Innocent families have had their lives turned upside down by unscrupulous tabloid journalists and paid lackeys in the world of private detection.
However, the purpose of these actions was to harvest data and information used in news stories.
Who buys these papers to read these stories?
Errmm..that would be the British public.
The monster of intrusive and sick journalism has been of our own creation.
Moving on to the methods used by these media organs, aside from using private detectives who else helped them?
Errrmm..that would be the police, who have been receiving kickbacks for tips offs and passing on details etc.
Ever wondered how it was that the media got hold of the details of Chris Jefferies (the innocent man arrested by police, because he had "funny" hair, in the Joanna Yeates murder case)?
Is it not "odd" that the police have had (apparently for several years now) details of these hacking attempts, yet only now are they conducting a "proactive" investigation?
There is something seriously wrong with our police, and it needs to be sorted out now.
Moving on to the politicians who are screaming for blood and strict privacy laws.
Errmm..who is it who would have most to gain if their corrupt business practices and hypocritical sex lives were kept hidden?
What the News of The World (and other media organisations) have done (and continue to do) is without doubt repellent. These people should crawl under a stone and shrivel up and die.
However, do not forget they have done this because there is a demand to read trash, and because the police and others have happily been helping them and allowing them to get away with it.
Sadly the media are but a reflection and creation of our own personal hypocrisies.
That being said, be careful of siren calls for strict and hastily drafted new privacy laws; our "respected" and corrupt politicians have much to gain by this and we, as a democracy, have everything to lose.
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What I really can't understand is why anyone wants a new law when this so-called phone hacking is already illegal. They don't demand a new law about stealing things whenever someone's house is burgled.
ReplyDeleteWhat has happened is appalling, and those responsible should receive exemplary punishment, including those at the top who authorised or, at least, turned a blind eye, to what was going on. However, for reasons you state, Ken, and others, we must be careful not to overreact by rushing in any kind of censorship laws or controls on the free press. Not only would such laws only protect the rich and famous, like super injunctions, but would be a case of throwing the baby out with the bath water. It is also worth remembering that those societies who do practice press censorship are the nastier dictatorships.
ReplyDeleteSeems that the Sunday Tit and Bum only comes to grief when it stands on the toes of the rich and influential. Remember when the arsewipe sent out its hacks to photograph forty innocent men so its manhating editor of the time - Rebekah (sic) Wade (or Brooks as she now is) - could plaster their faces over the front page of her rag as paedophiles. Innocent sacrifices in her campaign to denounce all men as paedos and gain brownie points for the introduction of her version of Sarah's Law. We can thank Wade for much of the "all men are paedos" attitude now so prevalent.
ReplyDeleteI see many people in politics and show business are jumping on the bandwagon.....Is it appalling?...Yes, but is it really that much different to how journalists have always worked?....Many years ago, for example, news editors used to monitor police and fire brigade radio transmissions and pay for leaked documents and pay insiders for gossip.....I wonder if phone hacking is just a modern version of this type of thing?.....Don't get me wrong, I think those involved have behaved very badly but I do wonder if journalists would have acted any differently had the technology been around fifty years ago.
ReplyDeleteI hear so called experts mah nah mah nahing and pontificating on every aspect of the allegations and shouting for this action or that action to take place....I do wonder why they didn't shout years ago for the same action to be taken if they all knew it was going on.
An actor said on Sky news that any inquirey must look at the relationship between the press and the police and the relationship between the rich and the press......I would also want the inquirey to look at the relationship between journalists and politicians.....I am very uncomfortable with the situation where political journalists get to travel with the PM and other senior politicians on the official plane or train etc......I wonder if this arrangement is a tad too cozy.....You show me in a good light or you won't travel with us etc etc.....An editor would want his political team on that plane or train with access to those senior figures and so may go easy on that politician.....All too cozy for my liking.
We also need to address the situation where news media try to make and drive the news rather than just report it.
We often hear the phrase; "The government has made a U turn because of public outrage."....Is it really public outrage or just shouty media?
I do NOT want to see any censure of the press in fact, I would like to see even more freedom.....At the moment, the quality of our media services reflect our society....Dumbed down...People that have recently gone through our country's indoctrination system which is known as our education system come out of it with a very distorted view of life and a kind of celebrity worship mentality.....It is my opinion that our media are only reflecting that fact and provides the news that so many of our younger citizens crave....Take The Jeremy Kyle Show for example....That shows all that is wrong with our nation....I watched it twice; the second time because I couldn't believe that such people existed in our nation.....A sad, sad state of affairs.
New laws usually contradict old laws and so obfuscate the line between right and wrong. But hey; more laws, more work for lawyers.
ReplyDeleteAnd how many MPs are lawyers.
I've always said of demands for new laws to govern the internet, SAME RULES APPLY. The virtual world of technology is no different to the physical world we inhabit ... and there are plenty of laws under which hackers, spammers etc. could be prosecuted.
All it needs is some radical libertarians to stand up to the thought police.
@Tonk: Yes the other news organisations are revelling in this. I spotted about 3 minutes of the BBC News programme today that WASN'T on this scandal! There are other stories and they don't have to cover every "he said she said" every day!
ReplyDeleteAlso... who didn't know that NoW were trash journalists? I did...
The Editors' apparent lack of knowledge of (or interest in) the content of their papers, brings to mind -
ReplyDelete"The Doctrine of Plausible Deniability"
there is an old epigram that goes something like;
ReplyDeleteYou cannot hope to bribe or twist,
Thank god, the British journalist.
But seeing what the man will do...
Unbribed.
There's surely no occasion to.
I stopped buying the arse wipe papers years ago (that term includes the red tops to the 'quality press') Get all the news and discussion of such from the net and much more informed it is.
ReplyDeleteA large part of the problem ken,is that the majority of people still think that this society is democratic,and as your blog highlights so often it is not,and all of these people who are over flowing with indignation continue to vote for the same tri-axis of communist evil at every opportunity,because they clearly can not be arsed to take any real action to change things.
ReplyDeleteThe big point of this is to discredit Murdoch and his Fox News organization, which is identified with conservatism and the conservatives here in the U.S., in order to influence the elections here in 2012.
ReplyDeleteRowcliffe of Devon, banished long ago to the outback of Los Angeles