David Cameron today moved to reassure the regional press that it will not be judged by the standards of the News of the World after Rupert Murdoch stunned the industry by axeing the shamed tabloid.
Ipswich Evening Star editor Nigel Pickover wrote to the Prime Minister on Wednesday urging him not to use what he called a “condemnatory catch-all” for newspapers in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.
It brought a swift reply from Mr Cameron’s office in which he contrasted the “appalling, shocking and disgusting” allegations against the NoTW with the “excellent work” done by local newspapers.
The Prime Minister’s response, which is published in today’s Evening Star, came as Labour leader Ed Miliband called for the scrapping of the Press Complaints Commission, which he branded a “toothless poodle.”
Mr Cameron’s spokesman said: “I am writing on behalf of the Prime Minister who has said, these are appalling, shocking and disgusting allegations.
“He understands that everyone, including members of the press such as yourselves, will be revolted by what they have heard.
“The Prime Minister has made clear he is committed to establishing rigorous public inquiries to make sure this never happens in our country again.
“I would also like to reassure you that the Prime Minister absolutely recognises the important and vital role local newspapers play in their community and is fully supportive of the excellent work they do, campaigning for local people, strengthening our democracy and holding the powerful to account.”
Meanwhile a weekly newspaper editor whose patch borders Soham has appeared on a BBC programme to defend regional journalism amid the continuing fallout from the phone-hacking scandal.
Cambridgeshire Times editor John Elworthy appeared on the BBC’s Look East programme following allegations that the News of the World had hacked into mobile phones belonging to families of murdered Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
Speaking on the show he said he was ‘ashamed’ of what was masquarading as journalism in ‘that place we lovingly used to call Fleet Street,’ adding that he didn’t think that young journalists would be looking at the red tops in the same light following the scandal.
The interview was recorded before yesterday’s shock decision by Murdoch to axe the red-top after 168 years of publication.
When asked by the presenter if he was ashamed of journalism, John replied: “I’m not ashamed of anything done in these provinces and certainly not in this patch and by the company and newspaper and the traditional values I represent.
He went on to say that local newspapers were used to Fleet Street coming into and kicking local communities around but this was ‘a whole new level.’
“It’s unbelievable to believe that people were sitting in their offices in Fleet Street not knowing what there colleagues were up to,” said John.
“Journalists were doing nothing while colleagues were involved in illicit practices.”
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Great to see the record being set straight. We all know that, for a kick off, the vast majority of regional and weekly papers follow the mantra of ‘don’t mess on your own patch’ because if you do things become unravelled very quickly.
The job is being done with a great sense of responsibility, even in these stringent and difficult times.
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All very fine. But that won’t stop Cameron now pushing through a privacy bill which will protect the great and good, while the Digger has the chance to both look good and sack a whole bunch of mostly innocent journalists (double score!) AND still gets BSkyB – the only reason he’s bothered right now what people think of the Screws.
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Cameron doesn’t say HOW local papers will be protected. The only way is to remove national papers from the PCC’s remit, so they are just answerable to the law; and revamp the PCC as a mediation service for local papers.
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PCC works well with local and regional papers whose editors care about their readers – keep it for them and bring in something tougher for the nationals that all abuse people, take no notice of the law of the land and anything else that gets in their way.
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Problem with the regional press (and national) is that there is no way to hit back in similar style if you feel aggrieved. I can’t think of any other walk of life where one person (the editor in this case) can cause such bother for someone if he/ she has a bee in their bonnet about something. I may dislike Joe Bloggs parking outside my house , but I can’t do anything about it. An editor may dislike it, and make it a huge issue. Too much power in the hands of someone with no mandate to cause mischief. That’s what offends me.
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Cameron is trying to throw the dogs off the scent by lobbing the PCC at them. It’s a cynical move by a desperate man. He knows that the real issue here is how much he knew about the phone hacking when he hired Andy Coulson. There’s nothing wrong with the PCC, it has served the regional press well and is respected. The PCC didn’t false Cameron to hire Coulson. That gaffe was of hiw own making.
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I tend to agree with Daisy Chain. The PCC has served us well for 20 years and it’s certainly not the “busted flush” that Ed Miliband claims. Both leaders seem to be jumping on an easy target bandwagon at the moment. What would the alternative be? Neither is really telling us. State regulation – no thanks.
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I think anything that comes out of David Cameron’s mouth on this issue is tainted by his association with Andy Coulson.
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