Volume 22, Number 3, 2011 |
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ContentsEditorial - Bad news, worse news 3Not finally... Subjective views on matters journalistic 5 Lindsey Hillsum, John McEntee, Michael Leapman, Steven Barnett Bill Hagerty and Martin Rowson - Hacking: School for scandal 17 Privacy James O'Brien - Secrecy by stealth 31 Julian Petley - Watchdogs turned attack dogs 36 David Hencke - A dangerous myth 43 Kevin Marsh - Our only hope is to stand – and deliver 49 Ivor Gaber - Child abuse: the media must listen 57 Bob Marshall-Andrews - Manipulation is a two-way street 65 BOOK REVIEWSJon Swain on Peter Taylor, David Loyn and Rosie Garthwaite 73Don Berry on John Lang/Graham Dodkins 77 Phillip Knightley on D D Guttenplan 79 Louise Levene on Annalena McAfee 83 Kaye Whiteman on Walter Schwarz 85 Bill Hagerty on Brian MacArthur 87 Quotes of the Quarter 1 - 16 Quotes of the Quarter extra - ibc Ten years ago - The way we were - 56 News - Conference/Charles Wheeler Award - 64 Cover illustration: Martin Rowson 
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Right inquiry, wrong membershipThe BJR editorial argues that the membership of Lord Justice Leveson’s post-phone-hacking inquiry panel is flawed by failing to include journalists with knowledge of ‘the day-to-day pettinesses and skulduggery which consumes so much of the time and energy of editorial executives in news-gathering organisations’.
Also on phone hacking...The caped crusader versus the pigsThe phone hacking scandal reveals the difference between two models of journalism and two models of journalist, argues Steven Barnett, professor of communications at the University of Westminster. Now is the time to stand up for the caped crusaders and to kill of the ‘pigs in raincoats.’
The Dirty Digger’s debutRupert Murdoch’s biographer Michael Leapman reminds us how the media mogul got his hands on the News of the World by giving solemn undertakings that were not kept.
School for scandalIn a comic book presentation Bill Hagerty and Martin Rowson transform Rupert Murdoch’s Wapping headquarters into a darker version of St Trinians to explain the phone hacking saga. It’s billed as ‘a story of bullying, corruption, criminality and deceit.’
PrivacyIt’s secrecy by stealthThe distinction between what is in the public interest as opposed to what interests the public is entirely nebulous, writes LBC phone-in host James O’Brien. He also believes that secrecy has been redefined as privacy and contends that journalists should have the right to report anything – as long as it is true.
It’s a dangerous mythNothing is secret any longer. Every detail of our lives can be accessed, as modern reporters in the digital age know only too well. Freelance investigative journalist David Hencke explains why total privacy is now impossible to achieve in today’s open society.
Proprietors have a hidden agendaNewspaper proprietors seeking to undermine the legal protection for an individual’s right to privacy are guilty of hypocrisy and constitutional illiteracy, argues Julian Petley, professor of journalism and screen media at Brunel University. And he says some have a hidden agenda in hoping to bring about Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.
Time for journalistic transparencyDon't believe those who argue that social networks, WikiLeaks and crowdsourcing mean that we no longer need journalists, writes Kevin Marsh, former editor of the BBC's college of journalism. But journalists in a post-hacking world have to earn the public's respect by being genuinely accountable and transparent about their methods.
Lessons on war reporting‘In war,’ writes Channel 4’s international editor, Lindsey Hilsum, ‘there is no truth except what you see with your own eyes or hear with your own ears – and even they may deceive you, or show you a distorted, small piece of the jigsaw.’ But beware the distortions caused by your own opinions.
Celebrating Private EyeWith the satirical magazine about to celebrate its 50th anniversary, gossip writer John McEntee assesses the reasons for its staying power. And he reveals, er, not much really, except that it’s likely to run and run and run (unlike Fergus Cashin).
Social workers suffer media abuseA largely false image of social workers has been created by the media reporting of child abuse cases, according to Ivor Gaber, professor of media and politics at the University of Bedfordshire. Help may be at hand, however. A government-funded College of Social Work, which aims to be a first point of contact for journalists, is being set up later this year.
Spinners and sinnersFormer Labour MP Bob Marshall-Andrews tells how the media preferred to ask him about a fornicating footman rather than the obscenity of the invasion of Iraq. In this edited extract from his book, Off message: The complete antidote to political humbug, he explains the nature of the dialectic between the modern mass media and politics.
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