The latest revelations show a breath taking, chilling arrogance on the part of the Murdoch empire and the British media in general, as a society we can no longer allow this to continue.
There is a difference between press freedom and media ethics. There is also a difference between the public interest and what News International prints on a daily basis. Whatever you think of Gordon Brown, and I appreciate he is not a liked man, the revelations about his children’s health have no place in newspapers. A democracy does not mean privacy no longer applies. In fact it means the opposite. That’s why we have a secret ballot; it’s why we have privacy laws, the Data Protection Act et al.
A free press is a cornerstone of a safe and free democracy but with the advent of the Murdoch era and the pornographer Richard Desmond’s acquisition of the Express group came the erosion of journalistic practices and their intent. Sensationalisation and muck became the focus and the public became engrossed in a series of repugnant exclusives, sorry EXCLUSIVES, that hid behind the pretension of freedom. The papers courted the worst of human nature and News International and McMullan’s defence that people still bought their papers just further exposes their contempt for the law and the majority of the public who find these rags reprehensible. People voted for Mussolini, Hitler, Bush, and it didn’t make it right. The perverse interest in the private lives of others has become accepted because of papers like this, and it shouldn’t be. Particularly when children who are unable to defend themselves are involved, what does this say about British society? Certainly nothing good.
Indeed democracy is fundamentally damaged and undermined by the fear of politicians who are only one step away from having their private lives thrown across the tabloids. The Data Protection Act states that only “relevant information” can be held about an individual; new press regulations should state the same thing. Fraser Brown’s cystic fibrosis has nothing to do with Gordon Brown’s competency; it has nothing to do with my impression of him as a man, a leader, a father. In short, we do not need to know, it is a private, family matter that he is free to conceal or reveal, to deal with privately as a family.
In a brilliant moment on a recent Newsnight Steve Coogan called former News of the World editor and all round sickening, inhuman apologist Paul McMullan a “muckraker”. Yet such a term fails to do justice to this behaviour. The original muckrakers were American journalists unveiling the terrible conditions of the tenements of the large American cities. Journalists such as Stephen Crane whose bleak, naturalist novella Maggie: A Girl of the Streets reveals the true purpose of journalistic endeavour, to protect citizens and give a voice to those without power. What you read in the tabloids is nothing but perverse entertainment and hand-washing. A group of criminals cannot be the moral arbiters this country, or any country, needs or wants.
The truth is the revelations about Brown reveal a chilling and disgusting arrogance on the part of the Murdochs, Brooks and News International. Brown was elected by his peers to lead this country. Love him or loathe him, a certain level of respect for Brown or any other Prime Minister is due. There has never been any suggestion Brown was involved in corruption or wrongdoing of any kind, he was hounded for the political gain of a man who was never elected, essentially for profit. Medical records are not obtained legitimately, that’s a simple fact. To attack the Prime Minister in such a way shows a contempt for the electorate, the public and an arrogance that is inexcusable.
As for celebrities, McMullan claims that by parading themselves on a red carpet and by earning large amounts of cash they are fair game. Well that’s disgusting. For the most part celebrities attempt to entertain people, not hand over their lives to reckless and abhorrent journalists and paps. It will be swept under the carpet by the increasingly disgusting things we have read over recent weeks, but the fact remains, everything we have read is criminal. Everyone is entitled to a level of privacy the current tycoons in charge of our media arrogantly dissuade. Of course the facts concerning Milly Dowler, the families of 7/7 victims and dead soldiers are the most shocking and disgraceful but do not let us lose sight of the fact that titillating gossip is symptomatic of the disgusting abuses committed by News International. The whole system can no longer be trusted with self-regulation as it shouldn’t have been from the beginning but there’ll be more on that later in the week…
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