Abstract
From the British Journalism Review of 10 years ago (vol. 21, issue no 2, 2010)
‘In the Venables case, it may be that a young man who should never have been released into the community is better back inside. The media certainly contributed to that outcome. It may also be that a tough (and expensive) operation to rescue a desperate young man from a future life of crime was nipped in the bud. Since the latter ambition is surely preferable, the behaviour of the press in the Venables case was deplorable.’
– Simon Jenkins on child murderer Jon Venables, 27, re-jailed for keeping porn
‘Serious foreign stories rarely rate with audiences. It’s safer to send Peter Crouch’s girlfriend to “explore” the Rajasthan desert (ITV2: “It was really, really intimidating because they can’t speak a word of English”). It’s similar for newspapers: declining circulation and the squeeze on advertising revenues mean unpopular stories that require arduous foreign digging are more often covered from the office, if they’re covered at all.’
– Panorama reporter Paul Kenyon on how the first casualty of TV budget cuts is the truth
‘Should England fail, it will be a brave media soul who points out that press and public constantly sidestep the reality that perhaps the likes of Argentina, Brazil and Spain are more often than not better than us…Or that purple prose praising “our boys” for “putting their bodies on the line” should be reserved for “our boys” really doing just that in Afghanistan.’
– Sports writer James Mossop on the World Cup in South Africa
‘…to imagine that some of the British tabloids will actually use this event to take a fresh look at the country, rather than arrive with their stories and clichés about Africa already pre-packed, is a tall order.’
– South African journalist Bryan Rostron on the “confidence trick” that will keep the SA poor majority off TV screens