Reporting Power Photo Copyright: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters Civic Structures Why They Matter, How They Work Kate Ironside Reporting Power Civic Structures: Why They Matter, How They Work Kate Ironside This book is for sale at http://leanpub.com/reportingpower This version was published on 2019-08-28 This is a Leanpub book. Leanpub empowers authors and publishers with the Lean Publishing process. Lean Publishing is the act of publishing an in-progress ebook using lightweight tools and many iterations to get reader feedback, pivot until you have the right book and build traction once you do. © 2018 – 2019 - 2020 Kate Ironside To my family Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................. 1 READ THIS FIRST ............................................................... 2 Part A: The Overview ............................................................ 6 1. UK Government & Parliament ......................................... 7 The UK Government ................................................................................................. 9 UK Parliament ......................................................................................................... 19 2. Devolution: How We Got Here ....................................... 38 3. Reporting Wales & Scotland ........................................... 48 Wales....................................................................................................................... 50 Scotland ................................................................................................................... 56 Consequences for England ...................................................................................... 67 4. Terror & Hope: Northern Ireland .................................. 68 5. Local Government .......................................................... 104 Part B: News & Local Government .................................. 126 6. Child Protection ............................................................. 127 The Tale of Baby P................................................................................................ 130 The Death of Declan ............................................................................................. 155 Rotherham Child Abuse Scandal ........................................................................... 157 7. Housing & Planning ....................................................... 174 Planning Challenges .............................................................................................. 176 Housing Challenges............................................................................................... 178 Structures in a Nutshell ......................................................................................... 182 The Tale of Grenfell Tower ................................................................................... 188 Part C: Governments & Parliaments in Action .............. 218 8. Why Students Do or Don’t Pay Tuition Fees ............... 219 9. Bombing Syria ................................................................ 248 10. Brexit: The Past & Future ........................................... 269 Origins of the EU .................................................................................................. 270 Why the UK Delayed Joining ................................................................................ 275 How the EU Developed ......................................................................................... 281 The British Debate 1975-2020 .............................................................................. 286 Issues to Watch for the Future ............................................................................... 306 11. A Case Study: Boris Johnson’s First Year As Prime Minister ............................................................................... 319 Part D: Money .................................................................... 366 12. Government Budgets: Affecting Lives ....................... 367 13. The Price of Justice ...................................................... 394 Part E: Reporting Public Services .................................... 430 14. The National Health Service ....................................... 431 Key Issues: The Never-Ending Health Stories ...................................................... 433 Structures: How to Find Stories............................................................................. 447 A Place of Fear: The Mid-Staffs Scandal .............................................................. 464 15. The Police ...................................................................... 407 Structure & Accountability.................................................................................... 409 Funding And Why It Matters ................................................................................ 421 Reporting Rape: The Police, the Politicians and the Press .................................... 428 Cliff Richard, the Police & the BBC ..................................................................... 436 Part F: Final Tips For Newsdays ...................................... 452 16. Guide to Compiling Your Student Newsday Diary ... 454 Contacting Me .................................................................... 457 About the Author ............................................................... 458 Acknowledgements I would like to thank, above all, my husband Jon Smith, former Political Editor of the Press Association, for spending so many hours painstakingly editing this book and for his suggestions and improvements. Without him, this book would not have been completed. All errors, of course, remain mine. My thanks also go to Professor Diane Kemp of the Broadcast Journalism Training Council, who has pioneered these BJTC publications and who encouraged me to write this. I am also grateful to my employers and colleagues, first at the University of Bedfordshire and then at the University of Northampton who gave me the time to write Reporting Power, and for their helpful comments on the text. Last, but definitely not least, warm thanks go to my students for their enthusiasm, interest and willingness to crawl out of bed for 9am lectures on public administration. You’ve been terrific to teach. Kate Ironside READ THIS FIRST Never has the need for competent reporters who understand public affairs been greater. At the time of writing this, the third edition of Reporting Power, the UK was gripped by the worst pandemic for more than 100 years. The actions of the Government, the NHS, the care sector and wider public services were (and remain) pivotal if the loss of life is to be minimised. By June 2020, the death toll had already passed the 40,000 mark, double what Government advisors initially thought would be a “good result” (Heffer, 2020). In this moment of national crisis, audiences for trusted news sharply increased (Mayhew, 2020a, Mayhew 2020b). Why? Because people needed journalists. They needed journalists who could understand how governments, the NHS and other key structures worked and who could report honestly and accurately what was going on. This, at its most profound, is why every student journalist needs to study public administration. What was extraordinary about the year 2020 was the scale and depth of the challenges but they were not unique. The day I began writing the first edition of this book, firefighters and police officers were combing the charred, smoking structure of Grenfell Tower in North Kensington for human remains. 72 people had died. Grenfell Tower was Britain’s worst fire disaster since the Piper Alpha oil rig blaze that killed 167 in 1988. A public inquiry was subsequently launched into how the council- owned tower block, home to an estimated 400-600 people, became a death trap. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, reporters were turning to those who bore responsibility for Grenfell. To Kensington & Chelsea Borough Council. To the Department for Communities & Local Government. To the local tenant management organisation. In isolation, on a normal day, these bodies and their responsibilities might be considered dull. READ THIS FIRST 3 But they are not dull when their actions, policies and spending decisions have contributed to the construction of a building so hazardous that it turned into a blazing inferno in just 15 minutes, condemning scores of innocent men, women and children to an appalling death whilst their horrified neighbours watched in the streets below, powerless to help. Reporters working on this story did not have time to ask: “Who is responsible for housing? What’s a council? And who do I talk to in a council?” They needed to know already so they could pick up the phone immediately to the right people. This is why journalists need to understand civic structures. This e-book will therefore demonstrate how civic structures work (or don’t work) and how you set about reporting them. We shall do this largely by walking through news stories which have dominated the headlines. All the stories are thought- provoking. Some may make you angry. It is, regrettably, the nature of news that our focus tends to be on what goes wrong in life rather than what goes right. The key stories we examine are not unique. The abuse of the vulnerable, the construction of dangerous buildings, celebrity arrests and decisions to go to war will all, inevitably, happen again. This book will show you