Volume 16, Number 3, 2005 |
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ContentsEditorial - Pass the salt 3TerrorismMatthew Bannister - Suddenly, my hands were shaking 7Gill Farrington - The tattered man with only one shoe 12 Jason McLure - All quiet in Dubuque 17 Peter Wilby - Swimming (weakly) against the tide 23 Mark Mardell - Why I'm taking on Europe 31 Bill Hagerty - Mr Deedes takes a gamble 37 Peter Preston - How not to defend your source 47 Rob Blackhurst - The freeloading question 53 Lloyd Page - Disability: lessons to be learnt 61 Terence Doyle - Hey! Let's start a magazine 67 SportJames Lawton - How best to wrestle a giant 73Bill Hagerty - It's cricket, but is it journalism 79 BOOK REVIEWSRichard Stott on Bob Woodward 85Frank Whitford on Martin Rowson 87 Mark Hollingsworth on Annie Machon 90 John Herbert on Hugh de Burgh 92 The way we were 36 Political correspondents poll 95 Paul Foot Award - Inside back cover 
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Editorial - Pass the saltThe crisis that faces Britain over attacks by terrorists brings journalism into confrontation with an unprecedented challenge. If Tony Blair's Government and its principal ally have made their predictions correctly, that challenge could remain with us for years to come: both No. 10 and the White House appear to be expecting a long, drawn-out struggle with those prepared to commit these outrages. In the months to come, the Government will be able to make its anti-terrorism policies felt in practice with virtually no formal scrutiny, since Parliament's long summer holiday will last until October unless it is recalled to consider emergency legislation. Scrutiny will therefore be in the hands of the media alone... [Read full article]
Peter Wilby - Swimming (weakly) against the tideI edited the New Statesman for almost exactly seven years from 1998 to 2005. I was the longest-serving occupant of that chair since Kingsley Martin, to whose record 29 years I never aspired. Martin took the view that “an editor's paper should be his mistress” and, like him, I “ate, drank and slept” with the New Statesman. No clumsy phrase (I liked to think) went unamended, no headline unimproved, no comma unscrutinised. My excuse for such excessive attention to detail was that the penurious NS could not afford more than one or two people to help me. But in all honesty, the real reason was that I wanted to stamp my personality on every page of the paper, at least in the politically-oriented front-half... [Read full article]
Mark Mardell - Why I'm taking on EuropeThe very senior Conservative asked me with bewilderment: “Is it true?” Indeed it was. I'd been appointed the BBC's Europe Editor and shortly would be off to Brussels. He was just about too polite to offer his commiserations, but was clearly bewildered. I've been reporting British politics for longer than I care to remember, know all the key players well, have covered the major political stories of the last decade for, in turn, Newsnight, the Six and the Ten news bulletins, as well as having great fun doing a review of the week for BBC One's This Week. What more, this chap obviously thought, could anybody want than carrying on observing and reporting on important and influential fellows like himself, rather than heading off into obscurity, trying to deal with strange sorts with strong accents and weird opinions... [Read full article]
Bill Hagerty - Mr Deedes takes a gambleWhen Mr Deedes goes to Town, it is for one of two very good reasons. As non-executive vice-chairman of the Telegraph group, he makes himself available to give advice, although he doesn't visit the Canary Wharf offices very often. “When you've got a new management, I think sometimes it's not helpful if you're around the place a lot. Old hands that sometimes can be seen as shoulders to rush to and cry on are not necessarily a good thing.” More likely, his visits to London will be connected to preparing the launch pad for The Sportsman, the new proposed daily paper for gamblers, of which he is chairman... [Read full article]
Peter Preston - How not to defend your sourceThe first principle of journalism – the one that rolls freedom, trust and duty together in a bumper bundle – is that journalists themselves are not a breed apart. They are ordinary citizens with no special rights or privileges, there to inform other ordinary citizens, to turn over stones, to question and cleanse. They are strong, clear voices in the crowd. They speak to their readers and on behalf of their readers. Chip away at that position and what's left? A trade dependent on political favours for its very existence – exit trust and all that jazz. It's a message you hear time and again, right around the world, when essential freedoms stand under threat... [Read full article]
Terence Doyle - Hey! Let's start a magazineMost journalists harbour a dream. They either want to write a novel – best-selling variety preferred – or satisfy proprietorial longing by owning a newspaper or magazine. One such budding entrepreneur tells a cautionary tale... [Read full article]
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