Read this and slowly digest…it’s from the Guardian in 2003.……it’s about ‘The Press’ and the dark arts they apply to the News as they spin it to weave a web to catch unwary readers.
Relevant to the tenth anniversary of the Iraq War and in the wake of Leveson.
Read it though and something else springs to mind..… ‘masters of spin……using all the arts.…distortion by headline, bias in their selection and omission of material, partiality in presentation.’
You’re ahead of me already I’m guessing……swap out ‘The Press’ for ‘The BBC’ and you don’t really have to change anything else….
‘It was fascinating, if disheartening, to watch the masters of spin – national newspaper editors – exhibiting their skills in the reportage of the Hutton inquiry. All the arts were on display: distortion by headline, bias in the selection and omission of material, partiality in the presentation. The aim, of course, was to ensure that the angle of every report, quite apart from the editorials and commentaries, should reinforce the papers’ political agendas. Editors didn’t have to think twice about what they were doing, because partisanship comes naturally.
Lord Hutton can collect all the evidence he wants, just so long as it fits in with the press’s prejudices. So, inevitably, we were treated to a sort of merry-go-round of accusations rather than an impartial presentation of what Hutton’s inquiry was being told. In the place of sober analysis and interpretation came knee-jerk insults. Papers happily indulged in their favourite game – trial by media – and enjoyed their twin roles of judge and jury.
Though several papers want this to be a tribunal which finds either the government or the BBC guilty of causing Kelly’s death, editors should reflect on their own part in the tragedy. They have helped to build a media culture in which feeding frenzies have become the norm, making life intolerable for innocents caught in the glare of their spotlights. Though the press spinners are not on trial in Court 73, there are plenty who think they should be.’
That last line really catches the eye…‘They have helped to build a media culture in which feeding frenzies have become the norm, making life intolerable for innocents caught in the glare of their spotlights.’
It was the BBC’s reporting and subsequent actions that led to the ‘media frenzy’ and ultimate death of the ‘innocent’ David Kelly caught in the BBC mincing machine and used as a disposable pawn in its attack on Blair…it was the BBC that made the shocking claim that the Prime Minister had lied to the Public in order to start a war…….a claim that was a lie in itself and one that had enormous and damaging effect upon the course and conduct of the war.
So who is it that should be in court?
The reason Kelly was exposed was that certain people involved with the BBC left a trail of breadcrumbs leading right to Kelly’s door for any journalist who made the effort to follow. The Government Press Office were told not to offer any names to the media but if anybody asked about a specific name they should not lie. Those who took the effort to follow the breadcrumbs obviously asked about the name they had been pointed to, Kelly, and the Press Office did not lie about his involvement.
The story spread around that the Government Press Office had deliberately shopped Kelly to journalists was just a convenient way to distract attention from the truth, that some of those who had used Kelly and his information had, either by accident or intent, dropped enough information around for anybody spotting the links to realise Kelly’s involvement. Kelly’s death is as a result of their behaviour and their actions, they did not carry out the execution but they were the ones who carried out the on the cheek in the garden thereby exposing him. But the b-BBC are well practiced at throwing little people to the wolves to deflect attention from them.
As Lord Patten has tried to make clear, with veiled threats not ignored by elected parliamentary representatives, the BBC shines spotlights on every dark corner; it has no dark corners of its own, and any attempt to see what’s there if they do exist will be resisted.
Which is why we have new botched ‘press’ charter oozing in and already being hailed as a club to wave at anyone with a different viewpoint by some, while broadcast appears covered by the benign glow of probity that is OFCOM, which of course ensured Savile/McAlpine… didn’t happen. Apparently.
As the Speccie’s Fraser Nelson pointed out in their ‘take a hike’ stand to Oliver, Nick, Ed & the four horsemen of HackedOff behind the curtains, they appear to have left a raft of holes & dangling threads to catch anyone they feel like on any basis, including their own ‘side’.
Twitter, especially, was highlighted as a massive area of uncertainty.
Given the BBC’s ongoing cynical fudge on it’s ‘views my own’ staff tweeting, the #lawofunintendedconsequences may yet see karma deploy her often capricious nature.
Getting called upon to co-fund a fine of up to £1m because a Bacon, Mason or Donnison reckon the rules don’t apply to their freedoms to spout off may yet see the public draw a line.
The aftermath of Leveson, though, seems to be something that will exist outside the judicial system, no? Just like the BBC, this new Hacked Off Charter will be a law unto itself, with no appeals process. The Hacked Off Trust will be judge and jury, just like the Trust is with the BBC complaints process. Except unlike with BBC complaints, there really will be consequences for those found guilty.
With the “sexed-up” story, Andrew Gilligan was sent off into the wilderness like Haggar and Ishmael. Gilligan seems to have landed on his feet in his job running what often seems like a Kev Livingstone Watch blog at the Telegraph (among other things). Although I’ve been wondering lately why, since the BBC seems to have reached the verdict that he was right all along, they’re haven’t brought him back into the fold yet. Seems the only fair thing to do from that perspective.
Gilligan seems to be doing well with frequent appearances on Sky. I suspect, if the bBBC approached him with an offer, he would tell them where to stick it.
Hi, thanks for sharing.