After a newspaper died of shame, barely a day has passed, an hour has passed without a blow by (custard pie) blow account of how irrevocable damage has been done to the Murdoch Empire.
The practices of the News of the World were more than just unethical, cover-ups, criminality and corruption. As revelations have unfolded the reputation of News International is in tatters. Even those who defended the New of the World so vehemently as the paper closed down, have been left disillusioned.
This week it was revealed that Sara Payne, mother of murdered school girl Sarah Payne, was handed a free phone by Rebekah Brooks, which was then allegedly hacked into.
The appalling behavior of the NOTW and News International should be exposed, it represent brilliant journalistic work after all. However there is an emboldened sense of cause, it seems, among some journalists. They have embarked on a moral crusade against the Murdoch empire, which has stifled and frustrated with a vice tight grip on the British media for over 40 years.
Like a pustule that’s dying to be squeezed, broadsheet journalists have been poking and prodding until all the putrid contents splatter out with lucid detail across the front pages, like a smeared bathroom mirror.
What these journalists are failing to consider is the blemish on the industry that’s being left behind .
A headline in the Atlantic read: ‘How Britain's Guardian is making journalism history’. Which could take on an unfortunate double meaning, prophesying the demise of every newspaper in the land.
Ultimately, no matter who is convicted and how many tabloid newspapers are exposed, my concern is the future of press freedom. Journalism serves an important purpose in this country – Under Article 10 of the European Court of Human Rights, journalists enjoy the freedom of expression.
In light of recent revelations politicians have suggested that the British press is in need of major reforms – reporting must be carried out ethically, each journalist a slave to what is deemed to be in the ‘Public Interest’.
Even the most rebellious amongst Fleet Street will have to toe the line, as under new proposals, supported by all the parties, there will be considerable intervention. Parliamentary hearings, police hearings and public inquiries all empowered by the government to do away with the self regulation of the Press Complaints Commission. The PCC is largely ineffective, due limitations in regards to the punishment it can give for misdemeanours. However, the notion that more official regulation imposed by the state will be a positive outcome, is a false one. The freedom of the press and its separation from government has been the focal point to democracy.
If the state does gain more regulatory power over what the press can and cannot publish in Britain, it will seriously impact upon the ways in which the media operates freely and its ability to hold those in power accountable could be severely curtailed.
Karl Marx argued against the control of the press by the Prussian state in the 1840s. He protested that a ‘free press is the ubiquitous vigilant eye of a people’s soul, the embodiment of a people’s faith in itself. It is the spiritual mirror in which a people can see itself, and self-examination is the first condition of wisdom.’
This new press regulation is being touted under the guise of protecting the public from unruly and irresponsible tabloid journalists as well as combating potential Murdoch monopolization. This does not alter the fact that civil liberties would be dealt a severe blow, presenting a blackened ‘vigilant eye of a people’s soul’.
This new press regulation is being touted under the guise of protecting the public from unruly and irresponsible tabloid journalists as well as combating potential Murdoch monopolization. This does not alter the fact that civil liberties would be dealt a severe blow, presenting a blackened ‘vigilant eye of a people’s soul’.
Lord Justice Leveson will now preside over the future of press freedom, unelected and unaccountable. David Cameron of course told parliament that he didn't favour ‘full statutory regulation’, but as the judge is free to consider all options, ‘we will have to be guided by what this inquiry finds’. Cameron said.
I fear that the broadsheet journalists, who are unrelenting in their efforts to bring Murdoch down, have lost sight of the damage they could be causing.
“All truth with malice in it; all that crack the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonism of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab.”
Surely those journalists hell bent on taking Murdoch down are not naive enough to assume that a new form of regulation will only curb the practices of the ‘evil’ tabloid press?
You're To Blame
The reporting over the closure of the NOTW largely overlooked that 200 people lost their jobs. Barely dead and buried and there is already virile mutterings over the conduct of the Mail and the Mirror too.
What both Rusbridger (Guardian) and Murdoch can agree on, however, is that the print industry is shrinking, the internet is flourishing and the press already struggle to keep up with the online conversation. Scandal or not, newspapers are facing a struggle to stay in business.
7 million people have just lost their weekly 'Screws of the World', I highly doubt that they will turn to The Observer, to gain their fix of a Sunday morning.
There is not only a danger of censorship under statutory regulation, but the possibility that publications will no longer be able to cater to their audiences.
After all, it's all your fault; the British public, 7 million NOTW readers. You crave the stories that got us into this mess. The footballers engaged in extra marital affairs, the pop-stars with a drug and alcohol problem.
Chortling over your cornflakes at the latest revelations, is it any wonder that journalists have to engage in malpractice to meet the demands - providing you, the reader, with the latest tidbit?
Hacking the relatives of murder victims is wrong and unethical and no matter how you look at it, it can't be defended and I'm not trying to. Without condoning the actions of Glenn Mulcaire and the NOTW - the fact remains that, in an ever competitive industry, where journalists are finding it increasingly difficult to stay relevant, where consumers can, and do go elsewhere on the web to find the story, reporters have to find new and innovative ways to maintain interest, to get ahead of the competition, to break the news.
Journalism is a business and celebrity culture has dictated that journalists must now endeavour to entertain to be successful. Resented by some, is it any wonder that so called ‘proper’ journalists, at the likes of the Guardian, have reveled in the demise of Murdoch and his favourite red-top.
So as the furore over hacking continues, spare a thought for every juicy detail you perused, that celebrity’s life you watched fall apart, and gossiped about in the office later that day - because soon it may be a thing of the past. And then consider the future of the British press, the things that might not be said, ideas that won’t be questioned and the issues that will no longer be investigated.
