fp169:Free Press template changed fonts.qxd 30/04/2009 21:42 Page 1 FREE Press No 169 March-April 2009 £1 Journal of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL The Damian McBride smear up an online presence to match the bloggers know only too well that once commanding lead established by right- the information is out on the internet it scandal is a symptom of an wing bloggers on behalf of the is considered to be in the public endemic cross-party culture Conservative Party. domain and will almost certainly be Just as in the USA, where the followed up by mainstream journalists. of media manipulation, Democrats’ campaign team built up an Here we can begin to see the true writes Nicholas Jones overwhelming online lead for Barrack extent of the collusion which can Obama, it is the hunger for power on occur. Bloggers run sensational stories hat got lost amid the furore the part of political activists on the which are sometimes fed to them by over Damian McBride’s right which has helped to put the frustrated journalists who are unable to lurid smears against Conservatives way ahead in the blogos- print or broadcast such items. Once Conservative politicians was phere. published online, they gain greater cre- the appeal by the schools But Labour’s failure to generate polit- dence and are out there, ready and Wsecretary Ed Balls that leaders of all the ical blogs on the left which are any- waiting to be exploited by Opposition main parties should examine the con- thing like as effective as those on the politicians. duct of their own spin doctors and pub- right has only been compounded by This gets to the heart of Ed Balls’ licists. McBride’s ineptitude. appeal that party leaders all have a Gordon Brown was rightly blamed When it comes to influencing the responsibility to police the activities of for having lost control of Labour’s polit- news agenda Guido Fawkes their media apparatchiks. Balls and his ically-driven attack dogs but David (www.order-order.com) – ably assisted wife Yvette Cooper complained bitterly Cameron should also have been in the by www.iaindale.blogspot.com and about being the subject of smears on frame. He too had – and still has – www.conservativehome.blogs.com – the Guido Fawkes website which were some questions to answer. have made all the running. And there taken up by Conservative spokesmen Have the Conservatives found a neat is no doubt that because of their ability and then used by the Tories as the basis way to keep the activities of their brat to deliver exclusive stories, these blogs for unsubstantiated complaints to the pack at arms length from Tory Central have caused Labour immense damage. commissioner for parliamentary stan- Office? Is it the lack of accountability McBride’s forced resignation was the dards. which is part and parcel of Opposition latest in their lengthening list of politi- Comments which had been made which is giving their party activists cal scalps. about them on Guido Fawkes were, Ed freedom to put the boot in via the blo- Political websites have had an Balls said, “homophobic, misogynist, gosphere? increasing influence on the news agen- deeply sexual and just awful… I would And, perhaps more to the point, da because they can publish risky sto- never want my children to see the should more have been done to hold ries which established news outlets things written about us”. the lobby journalists of Westminster to dare not print or broadcast. But the When the shadow chancellor George account? Unattributable briefings have Osborne accepted on behalf of himself become the life support system of mod- The bloggers know and his wife the Prime Minister’s belat- ern political journalism and it is the only too well that once ed apology – it took Brown five days to McBrides of this world who will say “I am sorry about what happened” always be waiting in the wings with the information is out – he accepted that politicians should another potentially poisonous transfu- move on and should agree on how to sion. on the internet it is “clean up politics”. Derek Draper was right in his assess- considered to be in the Cameron – like Brown – will be ment: Labour did have – and still has – judged on action not words. Will the a massive hole to fill in trying to build public domain Continued on page eight FREE Press March-April 2009 1 fp169:Free Press template changed fonts.qxd 30/04/2009 21:42 Page 2 News NUJ challenges on G20 policing he National Union of Journalists is Police apologised for the incident ists should have freedom to leave planning a legal challenge against where officers used section 14 of the events as well to get into them.” Tthe police over the G20 protests act, which is intended primarily to dis- Last year, a UK parliamentary com- after its members complained about perse potentially disruptive or violent mittee asked the police not to obstruct alleged assaults and the use of cordons gatherings. journalists doing their work during and “kettling”. In other G20 incidents, several pho- protests. In its report the parliamentary Roy Mincoff, the NUJ’s senior legal tographers have said that police committee said: “It is unacceptable that officer, is spearheading the NUJ’s pushed them and hit them with batons. individual journalists are left with no preparation of G20-related cases and Meanwhile on 22 April a Liberal option but to take court action against will be contacting the Independent Democrat MP released video footage of officers who unlawfully interfere with Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) a journalist detained within the police their work. and the Home Office minister, Vernon cordon at one of the G20 protests in “Journalists have the right to carry Coaker. London in early April. Tom Brake, a out their lawful business and report the NUJ members attending the G20 party spokesman on home affairs, was way in which demonstrations are han- protests in the City of London on 1 and filming with colleagues inside the so- dled by the police without state inter- 2 April complained to the union about called kettle in the Bank district. The ference, unless such interference is alleged assaults by officers, the use of video has now been submitted to the necessary and proportionate, and jour- cordons and police refusing to release IPCC. nalists need to be confident that they journalists from areas in which demon- Tim Gopsill, editor of the NUJ maga- can carry out their role. strators were contained for several zine the Journalist, attended the G20 “The public in turn have the right to hours, known as “kettling”. demonstration as an observer. impart and receive information: the The NUJ is also contemplating legal He said: “Trapping people in a cage media are the eyes and ears of the pub- action against the police after officers for hours on end was an outrage, lic, helping to ensure that the police used section 14 of the Public Order Act whether they were press or not. For are accountable to the people they to order photographers to clear the area journalists it meant they couldn’t get serve. Effective training of front line in one incident on 2 April, which was out to work on their reports, which was police officers on the role of journalists caught on video. an assault on press freedom – journal- in protests is vital.” journalist should "at all times strive to eliminate distortion, This piece by NUJ activist Peter Lazenby news suppression and censorship". Here, the truth is emerging appeared on the Guardian’s Comment is Free despite many journalists' initial acceptance of official statements. website in response to comments by But journalistic standards are falling because there is widespread retrenchment. Jobs are being axed despite healthy columnist Roger Graef on the role of citizen profits. Those journalists left in the regional media are often journalism in exposing the truth behind the tied to keyboards and telephones, regurgitating news releases, just as many sections of the media regurgitated the fiction that death of news vendor Ian Tomlinson Tomlinson was a G20 demonstrator, and repeated as fact a police statement that medics were prevented from giving oger Graef is right to celebrate the empowerment of treatment because they were targeted by "missiles". There is communities through citizen techno-scrutiny of police at the continuing contraction in national newspapers, and many RG20 protests, where citizen media delivered much-needed evening papers previously producing several editions, packed transparency. This has added significance in the light of reports with spirited and changing news, are now largely written the that professional journalists were prevented from doing their previous day. jobs on 1 April. Despite the suspicion some professional This is happening following the extraction from regional journalists feel for amateur colleagues, established and citizen newspapers of billions of pounds in profits to shareholders and media clearly worked together at G20. The old tale of Sheffield directors. My own employer, Johnston Press, is a case in point. journalists who made a point selling under-priced turnips, Last year's profit was £120m, down from 30 per cent but still cabbages and potatoes outside the shop of a greengrocer more than 20 per cent of turnover. As management dispensed infamous for supplying free sports reports to their employer is handsome profits, it also borrowed for an over-ambitious consigned to pre-digital history. There are greater threats. expansion programme. With advertising revenue plummeting, A further issue highlighted by Tomlinson's death is that much its debts are 10 times its share value.