Navigation

Primary Navigation

Secondary Navigation

Talking Politics

Back to Talking Politics home

Search

The British media is failing the public

Thu Jul 09 01:04PM

The media is failing the British public as badly as parliament. As a recent movie put it: Who Watches The Watchmen?

By Ian Dunt

We all know there's something deeply wrong with Britain today. A sense of dissatisfaction and dull resignation haunts the country. For months now we've savaged politicians. That problem is still very, very far away from being fixed. But it's unfortunate we've isolated our anger in one area.

Today's Guardian allegations about an apparent culture of law breaking and privacy invasion at the News of the World could give us the opportunity to look closely at the British media, and ask ourselves how it is failing us. We'll be lucky. The trouble with scrutinising the media is that it's the media who have to do the scrutinising. And people tend to not to defecate in their own backyard.

As the recent movie posters for the Watchmen blockbuster put it: Who Watches the Watchmen? An unwritten and unmentioned rule exists in Fleet Street, and has done ever since journalists set up offices there. You don't attack a fellow hack. For years, commentators would write nosey, judgemental stories on politicians' sex lives while pursuing highly dubious embraces of their own. But who would write about it? Only themselves. And they were the last people who would.

But now things are infinitely worse. The media failings are legion. Too many Westminster journalists accept small exclusives in exchange for good behaviour. Too many of them are genuinely friends with those they report on.

The decline of newspaper sales has crippled mud-raking journalism, with fewer and fewer journalists producing more and more stories. The only way to do that, of course, is to be at your desk, and we are now in the position where many of the stories journalists produce are based on press releases or one of the news feeds, like Reuters or the Press Association, rather than their verified account of an event.

The public have become part of the problem. There is outcry at the increasingly populist subjects covered by broadsheets, but editors don't commission work which doesn't sell. I have personally felt the sinking feeling in my stomach as a serious political story I spent hours working on was outperformed ten times over by a fluffy piece I scribbled up with the word 'celebrity' in the title.

The ownership of media companies has become a silent national scandal. How can we possibly treat media ownership as if it were any other commodity? It is not equivalent to milk, or racing cars, or DIY tools. It is the means by which the issues of the day, and the public's opinion on them, are framed. Very recently, Lord Carter's Digital Britain review suggested top-slicing the licence fee. Rupert Murdoch hated the idea - not because he loves the BBC, but because it helped out his rivals at ITV. And, predictably, his newspapers began to trot out precisely the same line we know he believes in. From America's unspeakably appalling Fox News, to Australia's suitably titled The Australian, to the UK's Sun and the Times, Murdoch must be considered one of the most powerful men in the world. Where is his democratic legitimacy? It is non-existent.

And finally, there is the puerile attitude of the media, which focuses endlessly on trivial nonsense with only the most cursory attempt to pretend it's of any genuine interest at all. After the editor of the News of the World, Colin Myler, lost the Max Mosely case, he told reporters: "It was of legitimate public interest and one that I believe was legitimately published." The sexual mores of the head of Formula One is not a matter of public interest. It is something which is interesting to the public, which is a different matter entirely.

There are pitifully few criteria upon which to say that someone's sexual habits are any of our business. Promoting celebrities to the status of role models - as in the case of Kate Moss - is usually preposterous, almost as preposterous as pretending a supermodel taking cocaine is remotely noteworthy.

Where MPs especially, or those in the public eye in general, partake in behaviour which explicitly runs against statements they have made, or positions they hold, that is in the public interest. But the standards should be strict. Even in the case of footballers, who are undoubtedly role models to many, it seems childish at best to pay any attention to their sexual habits, or even their drug use.

This attitude - typified by the Mosely case - represents one of the most puerile, unpleasant aspects of the British character: the twitch of the curtains, the nosey, sniggering interest in other people's personal lives. On the whole the British are far more progressive than this, and as a nation, we believe fiercely in privacy. But most tabloids seem obsessed with bringing out the worst part of our character.

That we should have editors arguing for the legitimacy of this kind of journalism when serious political coverage is lying dead in a ditch is deeply humiliating to my profession. The case against the media is so severe it appears conclusive. We desperately need to give it the kind of scrutiny politicians receive. But will we, as an industry, be brave enough to do it?

There is hope. And that is the curious irony of today. It took decent, investigative British journalism, from the rather remarkable Nick Davies, to uncover a story about bad, unpleasant British journalism. All is not lost. But it will be, if we don't start doing something about this situation now.

Comments11 - 20 of 314

Great feature and one that's definitely hit the nail on the head. The majority of the media are often complicit in keeping the real issues firmly out of the spotlight and I've been in a position to know this for certain. They bow first to their advertisers, next to the newspaper owners and, as stated in the article, to their "friends with favour". Britain needs a wake-up call and journalism is the main voice we have to rally us. We want our journalists to take risks but we should also send them the right message by avoiding the ones that opt for the easy route of celebrity tittle-tattle and partisan politics. This includes the tv news media as well as the papers. The BBC 24 hour service can be nearly as bad as Sky as times, choosing to over-dramatise ridiculous news items while important stories that really affect us are given scant coverage.

From xiola555 on Thu Jul 09 01:53PM
Report abuse
Too late to change the media 'business' without a paradigm shift in how the media is structured and delivered. Mass media should be independent, not controlled by a select group of corporate figures - new law required? How about disseminating across UK rather than the London media hub. Independent, small media centres representing UK, not the London Show piped to the rest of us in all of it's cheap, pop celebrity-obsessed tattyness. Would never turn a profit though would it - so what is the point of the media? Money making enterprise or public guardian? You can certainly have the former without the latter (now) but can you have the latter without the former? Ha ha only in a communist state and we wouldn't want that!

From chevved on Thu Jul 09 01:53PM
Report abuse
Mr Dixon you are a @#$%...

From boopy26 on Thu Jul 09 01:54PM
Report abuse
I haven't bought a newspaper in years. Newspapers report what they are told to report and politically biased. Many really really important stories are not mentioned or just given passing reference. I don't blame the journalists. There are very many excellent investigative reporters out there but unfortunately our news is whatever the lawyers and owner says it is. This lazy reporting depending upon Reuters etc also isn't worth the paper its printed on. The net at least lets you trawl a number of sources and make your own mind up what the 'truth' is...

From robert_austin2006 on Thu Jul 09 01:55PM
Report abuse
As david-j-dixon, I would like viejapetra (post no 5) to substantiate their 'truth'. Another thing that concerns me is use of media to cover up news that politicians find inconvenient. A celebrity death takes the focus off of politics - gives a breathing space. As does the G8 summit, jolly for PM away from awkward questions. Yes maybe these sites will help to voice opinions that are supressed. I hope so.

From secondgardener on Thu Jul 09 01:58PM
Report abuse
I have to laugh at this article as I think that we the British Public are to blemae for letting this gutter journalism to get the hold it has. Where is our backbone gone. We need to let these journalist know what we think. And we must also stop the obsession we seem to have with celebrity gossip.
Come back Andrew O'Neil we the readers need you!

From ron.tower on Thu Jul 09 01:59PM
Report abuse
The main problem with the Media is that it tries to set agenda's. It sets out stir up public opinion about this or that. When it has no major story, 9/11 or 7/7, or the death of Princess Diana or more recently Michael Jackson, it seeks to create stories to turn into major stories. - All this can be traced back to two important stories that became public because of the Media or their cases the Newspapers. The first was the Profumo Scandal which brought down not only the Government of the day but rocked the Establishment to its' very core. The second was the Watergate Scandal in America which brought down a President - Nixon - Ever since these two events Journalists and Newspapers and the Electronic Media have sought to find the hidden story behind every major event, mainly in the hope of the rewards that it brings and not for the information of the public. In doing this they've destroyed any respect we may have had for Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ministers and Governments.
-
The very worse examples of this can be seen daily, especially on Television, where 'Journalists and Broadcasters' have sought to make a name for themselves by denigrating, insulting and what's worse in my opinion 'Sneering'. Towards the end of the last Conservative Government, not one politician from that Party could appear on 'Newsnight' and other such programmes without the likes of Paxman, speaking to them in a tone that suggested, "I'm asking you this question and I know before you answer it, you're going to lie through your back teeth, you miserable little worm!" As Paxman and his contemporary's have become more powerful so they've come to believe they not only have the right to ask questions but they're doing us a favour. It is not too hard to imagine then that they believe they're setting an agenda.
-
Since before the last election and especially since the advent of Gordon Brown, they've been softening us up for a change of Government, a complete reversal of the role they adopted before the election of 1997. Newspapers are not much better, who can ever forget the headline in the Sun the day after the 1997 election,'It was us wot done it!' They imagined that they and only they, were responsible for the election of New Labour, they ignored the fact that the vast majority of the electorate of all political parties including Conservative voters, were sick to death of the Government and were crying out for change. It was also after this election that 'The Media' set out to control Government and events. Hence the current situation where we're all hating Labour, new and old and Gordon Brown and his Government in particular. - As a Conservative I've no objection to this - but I am concerned that we're being manipulated. The difference between Politicians and The Media is that the Politician will go to great lengths to say how 'brilliant we - the British Electorate - are at understanding the complexities of this or that and how our views are to be, or should be respected, while the Media treat us like stupid children who need to have everything explained to us in great detail, while they are in point of fact treating us with contempt, by seeking to manipulate our opinions, to elect Governments or Personalities they want. This is why, Governments and this current one in particular, now announce new legislation and Bills through the Media before doing so in Parliament and why Ministers are such at pains not to offend the interviewers, the only exception being Lord Mandelson, who just shows contempt for everyone.
-
So is The Media failing us, yes they are. They've ceased to inform in an unbiased way, they fill our heads with pap, - Celebrities and their doings - and the try to manipulate our political opinions, to suit their own desire to have 24 hour news, so they can justify their enormous salaries and expenses.

From alanseymour35 on Thu Jul 09 02:04PM
Report abuse
Why the abuse number 13? I dont recall being rude to you, or anyone for that matter. If you have a problem with me then at least behave like a grown up...

From david_j_dixon on Thu Jul 09 02:05PM
Report abuse
Hey Sniper, I have a question - if all these things you say are true and we are pawns to this great omnipresent international power. Why havent they killed you and everyone else perpetuating the 'truth' yet? I mean, if these people can do anyhting and brazenly run the world, then silencing a few people and getting rid of a few websites would be so very very easy....

From david_j_dixon on Thu Jul 09 02:17PM
Report abuse
The British media have evolved into propaganda organs for successive British Governments who have been implimenting a policy of constructive genocide of the aboriginal people of this Island by using immigration to bring in settlers from Africa and Asia to replace our indigenous population groups. Diversity, multiculturalism, racial equality are the weapons of conquest employed by successive waves of settlers from Africa and Asia. Whites are subjugated and oppressed to the extent that their right to protest against the genocide or attain equal rights has become proscribed by law!
Only one article in the Times a few years back has dared to ask the question,
" Does it matter if you are Black or White in British Courts???"
The article went on to illustrate that whites receive inferior justice!
More of the same please!

From odininasgaard on Thu Jul 09 02:19PM
Report abuse