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When citizen journalism captures the police behaving badly

July 31, 2008

There’s a remarkable story over at Journalism.co.uk. Click this link to learn more about a New York policeman’s seemingly unprovoked attack on a cyclist. While you’re marveling at the errant officer’s behaviour, ask yourself this: was this footage released on YouTube before it made it to conventional news media outlets?

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Wealth management industry feeling the pinch?

July 30, 2008

With the news that St James’s Place, the wealth manager part-owned by HBOS, announced a 5.4pc fall in operating profits for the six months to June, could it be that the wealth management industry is, if not exactly running on empty, starting to feel the pinch in these troubled economic times? Click here to read more.

Prime Minister in S&M shock – the editorial conference

July 30, 2008

Blade always enjoys the musings of former schoolfriend Nigel Hanson, for some time a journalist but in recent years a media lawyer with Foot Anstey. Here he writes about the Mosley judgment, one which he sees as wholly inimical to freedom of expression and whose “morality-free logic has implications that feel, well, odd.” For example, says Hanson: “Would a married Prime Minister attending brutal S&M sessions be entitled to keep such information private? Quite possibly, in the light of the Mosley ruling – unless there were political hypocrisy that justified publication to expose double-standards, or some other exceptional circumstances.”

Blade begs to differ. Indeed, Blade suspects that if, say, Gordon Brown was found to be enamoured of S&M sessions with sundry prostitutes in a Chelsea basement, an editorial conference might go something like this:

Ed: Have we got pictures and/or video?

News editor: Yes – both.

Ed: Are any of the girls onside?

News ed: Yes, one of them.

Ed: Is she reliable?

News ed: As reliable as can be expected.

Ed: Has she sworn an affidavit and given a statement?

Duty lawyer: Yes.

Ed: How much are we paying her?

News ed: £50K.

Ed: A bargain. Let’s see the pictures.

He looks at an array of images revealing, among many other things, that Gordon Brown is not so boring after all.

Ed: Brilliant! Great story. Let’s get on with it.

Duty lawyer: Er, following Mr Justice Eady’s comments in the Mosley judgment, I ought to point out the courts are likely to conclude that there is no discernible public interest in the Prime Minister’s admittedly intriguing sexual habits.

Ed: Of course the public will be interested! They’ll love it!

Duty lawyer: That may be, but as Eady put it: ‘Where the law is not breached, the private conduct of adults is essentially no one else’s business. The fact that a particular relationship happens to be adulterous, or that someone’s tastes are unconventional or ‘perverted’ does not give the media carte blanche.”

News ed (a literary type): I’m sure there’s a comma missing in that second sentence.

Ed: Where?

News ed: After ‘perverted’.

Ed: That’s an interesting stylistic point, but I’m not sure I agree.

News ed: Let’s call Giles Coren – he’s bound to know.

Ed: Don’t be so stupid. Coren will be out for a nosh somewhere. How much are we in for in damages?

Duty lawyer: At least £60,000, though there is, perhaps, significant solace in the fact that Eady didn’t award exemplary damages.

Ed: And legal costs?

Duty lawyer: Half a million to a million.

Ed: Excellent. A fraction of what we’ll make in sales.

A pause. The news editor looks at his boss expectantly. The duty lawyer ruffles through the pages of Mr Justice Eady’s judgment in the infamous but less-than-landmark Mosley case. Suddenly the door bursts open.

Giles Coren (for it is he): I’ve written a column about the PM which ends with an unstressed syllable and a joke about a truncheon. If any of you f****** mess with it you’ll hear from myself via email. Goodbye.

Exit Coren. Silence, save for the shrieks of sub-editors as he bashes their heads en route through the newsroom.

News ed: I like Giles. I understand where he’s coming from. Sometimes the subs go too far.

Duty lawyer: For what it’s worth, I agree.

Ed: This may come as a surprise, but so do I. I wouldn’t change of a word of his copy for all the brutal S&M stories in Chelsea.

Another pause as the trio read Coren’s column. At first, they are seen chuckling to themselves, then their laughter becomes more audible, until finally it is a cacophony drawing astonished glances from the newsroom. Eventually, wiping tears from their eyes, order is restored.

Ed: Now where were we?

News ed: We were going to ignore the lawyer’s protestations and the likelihood of being in receipt of a legal claim which we have no hope of defending in favour of the splash of the century, one which will cement our reputations and provide astronomical sales figures.

Ed: Quite right. Publish, and be damned!

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