Spelling it out
At the weekend, The Independent splashed with a story offering new evidence about the Newscorp phone-hacking scandal. At first sight, it looked like an open-and-shut case: News of the World hacks caught red-handed trying to get the dirt on Sol Campbell and (almost as important) Tessa Jowell.
Given Jowell was Minister for Media at the time, the Indie had a field day: biased subject of Minister’s remit bugs Her Majesty’s Minister – more skullduggery from Murdoch, how dare he. Now for me, Rupert Murdoch is the nearest thing on the planet to anti-matter; but we need to look a little more closely at motive here.
First off, the Independent has nailed its red flag pretty firmly to the mast re the forthcoming electoral choice between an autistic control freak and a privileged plank: the paper is hot for New Labour. A couple of weeks ago it slavishly ran the obvious Mandelson plant about Cameron’s ‘deal’ with Murdoch. As a piece of journalism, the piece plumbed new depths of ‘taking dictation’ reporting.
Second – and closely related to the above – Andy Coulson (the chap editing the NoW at the time of Hackgate) is now Head of Communications in Cameroonia.
Well, there we ‘ave it squire…stands ter reason, dunnit? I mean, bang ter rights int they? Er, not entirely.
Tessa Jowell refused to comment on the story. Now why was that? With an election coming, surely the Olympian one would just love to have taken a swipe at illegality perpetrated by Tory allies in the media. Further, it transpires that Andy Coulson had his phone hacked too. And of course, he did leave the Digger’s employ soon afterwards. So maybe he wasn’t a bad guy after all. And maybe Two-Budgets Tessa isn’t keen to comment because there was, you know, some stuff she now regrets saying on that hacked phone.
On another hand entirely, one dimension on which The Independent can be said to focus is the issue of climate change. And in recent weeks, the Telegraph has been enjoying fine sport at the expense of East Anglian climate-change scientists who (it is alleged) crossed out noughts and added digits where appropriate in order to sell the ‘pup’ that is global warming.
However, investigation suggests a naughty little agenda again. The scientists say their ‘emails’ have been juxtaposed and edited to make them look bad (they would say that) but guess what? The computer that did the hacking has been traced back to that paragon of truth and virtue, the oil-rich Russian Federation. And another country rich in Texas Tea (Saudi Arabia) also turns out to have been behind a lot of the allegations.
There’s an obvious and unoriginal point in all this: most of the media are biased, and nothing is ever exactly what is seems. But the new dimension today – with its potential power growing every hour – is the internet. It may not be new to you and me, but to the dinosaurs working in old media, until a few months ago it was almost as if we didn’t exist beyond somewhere to shove a second-rate version of the paper. They’ve caught on now – but too late. I doubt if the Indie will make it through next year, and the Guardian group is struggling – as too is Uncle Rupe’s Newscorp.
We are at a historic crossroads today. Murdoch is going to be a player in our sector, because the Angel of Death will always be where the dirt is being dished. But for those with motives beyond the gutter, there is a once-a-century chance to grab market share with real Opposition media. Not a half dozen engorged proprietor egos each with their own desire to wield power for its own sake, but new models with but one agenda: digging out the ethically and morally challenged folks from under society’s stones with the honest shovel of truth.
As and when the solids hit the fan next year, there won’t be any shortage of journalists looking to join such models of better behaviour. Most of them, I suspect, would jump at the chance to engage in reportage unrestrained by the spikes of privilege and unwarranted protection.
What they won’t want to be associated with is the huge army of individuals in the blogosphere peddling barmy conspiracy theories and foul-mouthed violence: and anyway, sooner or later every Wild West gets tamed by commerce. The big advantage serious web campaigners have (but it won’t last forever) is to rise above forty million folks yelling their heads off, and form respected online media organs that represent required reading for those wanting change….and strike fear into the cold, black heart of every dissembler in the Establishment. Places where the Mandelsons and Campbells and Whelans and Palace spinners and Number Ten apparatchiks can’t sow seeds of doubt in the mire as they do now.
Maybe it’s a pipe-dream. But as a famous adman once said, “If you don’t aim for the stars, you’ll wind up with your backside in a ditch”. The time for renegades and mavericks is passing quickly; the age of entrepreneurs with a vision of decency is coming. How they will form these new media models – via collectives, more organised RSS, a multi-news-and-entertainment offer, or trusts like the Guardian – remains to be seen. But if we want our reformist vision to be in tomorrow’s mainstream, we have to start acting now.
Copyright John Ward December 2009.
{ 3 comments }
I’ve watched a documentary called ‘Get Up, StandUp’ produced by Arte and ZDF. It tells of the relationship between music and politics. It highlights how music has been influential in being an entity in the demand for change by people in mdern history. Footage of Woody Guthrie singing in the back of his pick-up, his links with blues and folk music and how it sowed the seeds of revolution in America during the civil rights movement. It highlighted the musical legacy of the free Nelson Mandela movement.
There were many items that could have been added such as the anti-war movement in the States over Viet Nam, the misuse of Springsteen’s Born in the USA by Reagan, the Dixie Chicks and George Bush, The Specials ‘Ghost Town’.
It made me think. I wondered whatever happened to the self styled sort of protest. Usually about an issue and not necessarily party political? There doesn’t seem to be the same focus these days. I often ask – where is the protest – about the economy, about the war (again), about political abuse of our money etc??? The only answer I could come up with is the Internet, blogs like this. Out of small things and all that …. maybe we bloggers should start defining our aims and go for them…..use the media and deliver the message…. maybe this is this generations protest ground???
Blink,
Its the protest ground alright – but has anybody else noticed – we all seem to be over the age of consent, or ‘suffciently decayed’ anyway. That’s the big difference.
Blogs are in their infancy so maybe only some have noticed….. the enemy MSM, politicos and cranks… but the collective value is yet to be redeemed me thinks.
They are sounding off boards, often with good reason as we feel the voices we have are powerless, not listened to
They are advertisements for civil action – single issue or otherwise.
They are a particularly easy means of communcation. I happen to think the expert use of communication is a vital tool in the warriors armoury
And maybe in time they will grow up. The potential is enormous and in gifted hands could become the the new revolutionary tool. I believe there is sufficient ground for people to come together at this moment. Maybe the energy isn’t there, maybe the will….I don’t know. But irrespective of party politics I know that the country I have grown up in has been taken over by an invidious elite who are denying us our humanity and our care for one another. They need to be removed.
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