No one can deny that the News of the World (NoW) alleged activities in the 'phone hacking' scandal have been most disgusting and those involved deserve to face the full force of law.
Sadly, I doubt that this kind of activity is just restricted to one tabloid newspaper. This has probably been going on for years, given the ease in which mobile phones can be hacked into. It is likely that other newspapers - alongside News of the World - have been doing the same.
However, despite these disgraceful alleged actions of some employees of NoW, (one of the News Corp Companies), it is not necessarily reflective of all of the companies - such as The Times and Sky TV -which are regarded as providing quality.
On the merger of BSkyB, the decision has been made is quasi-judicial - and would be quite open to legal challenge if it had gone the other way.
Nevertheless, tomorrow there will be a debate in the Commons about this scandal. It will provide an important opportunity to look at the role of the media in our country - particularly the part that tabloids play. Has the balance of tabloid largesse swung too far against common decency?
As was once said early in the last Century, by former Conservative Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin: "newspapers exercise power without responsibility, the prerogative of the Harlot throughout the ages".
It's so dangerous for politicians to have designs on the press. For all of it's defects, we must treasure our free press as one of the cornerstones of what's left of our democracy. Admittedly, what's not much thanks to the corrupt EU, but the little we have we want to keep.
ReplyDeleteYet when it comes to the News of The World, this newspaper has been involved in so many scandals and our whole country is appalled at recent revelations.
You're right, this has been going on for a very long time. It was the News Of The World, for example, which in 1986 paid £35,000 - then sufficient to purchase a flat and a lengthy, luxury holiday overseas - to buy the story of the key witness in the Jeremy Bamber White House Farm murders trial.
The NOW did a deal with the key witness of the trial prior to the hearing. And it was largely this woman's evidence which convicted 24 year old Jeremy Bamber and sent him to prison for the rest of his life - i.e. for some 60 or 70 years? This witness got her £35,000 only if Bamber was convicted. These days trials are stopped for far less as it's recognised that cash for witness's stories prejudices trials.
Yet, how on earth could the nefarious activities of the NOW be curtailed without eroding our vital press freedoms? Please don't erode the freedom of our press. That might be inconvenient, but Democracy rarely comes in convenient form.