Superficially, there is an element of sameness about the column this week, as Booker yet again addresses the vexed issue of "stolen children". This story, though, is possibly more ghastly than some he has written, all the more for the subjects being anonymous.

I forget now how many months Booker has been beating this drum, and no one could now deny that there is a case to answer by social services, the police, the court system and the legal profession – to say nothing of the politicians.

Most of all though, there is an issue here about the media. This is the industry which professes to be concerned with people's rights and in freedoms yet not a single newspaper has followed up on Booker's work and developed a campaign – which is what is desperately needed.

View full article here

The system doesn't work any more

Headed: "A stupid business" the editorial for the Sunday Express is a corker. The only thing is, it is from 10 November 1940. Bear with me, though, as this has important lessons for today. But first the editorial, which concerns Frederick George Leighton-Morris (pictured above), who is going to jail for three months. Asks the paper, rhetorically, "What's George been up to?" And therein lies the story, as retailed by the paper ...
View full article here

If only there were more like Booker and Dr North.

I'm surprised the DT hasn't been threatened with a lawsuit to shut Booker up.

I know it's an entirely different subject but in 2006 the DT was threatened with a lawsuit for publishing proof from the WHOs own 7 year worldwide study that SHS was NOT harmful to non-smokers. The threat shut them up and they pulled it, it was supressed, it's why I'm surprised TPTB have allowed Booker to carry on reporting the truth. They don't like the truth in any way shape or form.

All credit to booker.

The media luvvies know that children are a very powerful motivator for everyone outside their bubble. If nothing else provokes people to action, the regular kidnap of children by the state will, and the action it'll provoke people to will, sooner or later, bring down the entire political/media establishment.

So they shut up about it. It's self preservation on the part of the media types. They don't talk about it, because talking about it would destroy their world.

Russia Today (RT) ran an interesting programme on the state of newspapers and the news media yesterday. It was mainly concerned with the United States but I doubt whether things are much different here.

With declining circulation, newspapers are cutting costs. So the number of reporters has declined. At the same time, the number of public relations people/press officers and media consultants employed by commercial and interests has increased. I was only half listening at the start but I think they said there were now 4 such news manipulators for every reporter (including broadcast media) and am not sure whether the number of PR people included those from government, local government, quangos and the like.

It was recently revealed that the Metropolitan Police alone employed 45 press officers (some 11 of whom were former News International employees).

So reporters rely increasingly on the prepared hand-outs which they are given. Pressure of work alone ensures that many reports are simply topped and tailed. So , to a large extent, the news comes "pre-censored" . Reporters wishing to get an advantage have to cultivate PR people in the hope of getting an occasional bit of advanced information. Similarly, if they produce hostile copy, they will go to the back of the queue for favours and have to work much harder to get even basic information.

The situation is a little different in the British broadcast media where the BBC is insulated from much of the cost pressures by its funding from tax on TV ownership but its own agenda ensures that reporters understand the importance of selection of the right sort of stories.

It has, several times, and Booker has been threatened with prison.

What exactly was the mechanism that suddenly caused the hacking of mobile phone voicemails to leap to the forefront of the media's attention ?
How can we reproduce it for more serious scandals ?

How about a sleb baby being nicked?

HarryR,
Presumably it was done to cover up something the political class did not want us to know. It was not worth the acres of newsprint devoted to it, even to stop the bid for BSkyB...whoever they may be. In which case it had to have been done by a load of spinmeisters getting together over drinks and agreeing a line to be taken. And the MSM do like concensus.

There is a book about this called Flat Earth News. I have never actually read it because it sounds like the kind of book where it tells you what you've always known to be true anyway. The pay and working conditions in PR are much better. It was interesting to see how the Sun's respected political editor, George Pascoe-Watson, recently went to work for a shadowy political PR outfit. He must have school fees to pay.

There is also a website called Churnalism which can be used to check if journalists are writing articles based on Press Releases (seems to be down at the time of writing). Unfortunately, Churnalism is a product of the Media Standards Trust, which is an offshoot of Common Purpose!

It is ironic that Russia Today is reporting on this, given the country's reputation for both authoritarianism and gangster capitalism.

Rosie: they wouldnt know what to do with the truth if it jumped up and gave them one in the bum. Other than run away from it, which is all that shutting it up actually is. It's why Britvic (I do prefer to call him that) went postal. He had learned from the Muzbots how to make them listen, and then act, on his concerns.

One more Britvic and they really will act ... one way or the other. Still, at least the Muzbots now know axactly how merciless an indigenous European can be. A couple more, suitably targeted, and they will all run back home - at least his bombs were effective first time out.

Here is another 'leader' who needs getting rid of.

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/inter ... 233b34970c

RE: The system doesn't work any more

Hahaha. People in authority would include the Luftwaffe would it not?

Richard,

The comparison with your experiences in the 90s onwards and the phone hacking/frauds lead me to believe we have seen reporting get cheaper and cheaper and cheaper. The comics that are today's tabloids are vehicles for adverts. I am always amused by the lack of adverts in these scans of old papers.

The economics of private enterprise would see pressures to make 'news' as cheaply as possible. Phone hacking meant one man at a computer with the right connections can generate more rubbish faster at a cheaper rate than a newsroom could previously. So you can get shot of lots of reporters.

As the content has been watered down the morals change and working in lock step with Government becomes the easiest game in town. It's even cheaper than hacking phones and making stuff up because the stories are handed to you and the taxpayer has paid for it. As the content has degraded this would tie in with people going elsewhere for the news that interests them. Imo a further indicator of this decline is the lack of hacking and blagging attributed to the Guardian and in particular to the BBC - it's not that they are angels but that they don't have the same economic pressures to produce crap as cheaply as possible - but their content has likewise degraded on the repeating press releases front.

A new paper with serious news.
Great idea, the timing is just perfect.

I'm glad I am not the only one who noticed it.