The Leveson Report landed today, I’m sure with a hefty thud. It doesn’t seem so long ago that the news was full of daily revelations of the wrongdoings of the press, and at the time, as the truth came out about the misdeeds, the cover-ups, the lies, the absolute moral disintegration that had led to wholly despicable activities being carried out under the mantle of ‘the public’s right to know’, I didn’t think newspapers would recover. And I was pretty glad about it. A murdered child’s mobile phone was hacked. That is a horrible, horrible fact, that cannot and should not be readily passed over.
Asking the press to self-regulate is like asking the wolves to guard the sheepfold. Too many journalists and newspapers have proven consistently incapable of acting responsibly or with integrity. If there’s a story or money or power to be had, then that is what will win out, and to hell with whatever damage is done along the way.
You might have noticed I feel quite strongly about this. And yet, I still can’t quite get behind the idea of legislative regulation either, because at base, I do believe in the idea of press freedom. There are good, investigative journalists digging into stories that the public does need to know about, and they should be able to do that without fear of reprisal no matter who those stories touch. Thus my concern with regulation is that it’s the thin end of the wedge of press censorship, and censorship is generally not a hallmark of democracy.
I don’t know what breaks the deadlock. I fear that we have the press we deserve, and that is quite terrifying in a world in which a lot of people read The Daily Fail. I’m sure many tabloid readers were almost bursting with righteous indignation at some of the Leveson interviews; if only they could think it through and realise they are a huge part of the problem, that might be part of the answer.
For the rest, I think press behaviour will be cyclical. There’ll be shock and apology and promises to do better; and then a gradual re-ascendance to a moral high ground founded in quicksand until it’s time for the whole circus performance to be repeated. The bottom line is that there’s no long-term incentive for improvement, unless and until there’s no market for the tawdry. I’m not holding my breath on that one.
I’m not even sure how they would plan to monitor abuses by the press. How could they have stopped the hacking with regulation, I mean people just hid it. I almost think it’s hopeless because the papers are owned by such wealthy people who control so much, how do you keep reliable but non-invasive tabs on the activities of an organisation with so many resources available?
Jodie – True enough. I heard Ian Hislop on R4 today saying that the Press broke the law; the police didn’t follow up because they were too close to the Press; and the government didn’t hassle the police because they were also too close to the Press. All of which seems a fair summary. None of them is to be trusted so where does that leave us? And what is to say that any other regulatory body would remain disinterested when there’s enough money and influence around to persuade its members otherwise.
I do agree with your sentiments here. I feel very strongly that we have a totally irresponsible media, and that we have brought it on ourselves. And I also think that we have to leave enough freedom for genuine journalists to do the investigating and revealing that they need. I wonder whether the answer isn’t to stop looking at official bodies who will primarily concern themselves with content, but like a bunch of renegade English teachers, who would have a heyday picking apart the inconsistencies, evident fabrications and vainglorious but unfounded recriminations that litter press stories. Teachers could do it like jury service – a week on the Mail, a week on the Guardian. Oh! I am getting carried away by the idea now. I will accept a large pay check to be a consultant on developing the plan, thank you.
Litlove – I love that idea! I would totally spend a week reviewing press stories in a jury service kind of way. Then we really would have the press we earned.