Abstract
From the British Journalism Review of 10 years ago (vol. 23, issue no 3, 2012)
‘Britain has become a country of violent mood swings, and the press, and the BBC, appeared to be reflecting accurately a near-universal sense of delight in Britain’s haul of gold medals and a feeling that the admirable and determined young people who won them were a fine antidote to the footballers and reality-TV posers who normally dominate the headlines. Quite right too. ’
– Matthew Engel, of the Financial Times, on covering his fifth summer Olympic Games
‘The lazy willingness to accept the official version of events has been the default position of the British media for the last 15 years. Again and again, the lies and falsehoods uttered by ministers and their spin-doctors have been passed into the public domain by reporters. A very good example of media complicity in political corruption concerns the parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009. The Daily Telegraph investigation is often held up as an example of how a nihilistic press has recklessly chosen to slur a generally virtuous political class. Deeper investigation shows the opposite. ’
– Peter Oborne, chief political commentator of The Daily Telegraph, on the myth of a hostile media
‘It’s clear now that Lord Hutton did us all a disservice – most of all Dr David Kelly, the circumstances of whose death he failed to account for. He handed Tony Blair, Alastair Campbell, New Labour and the BBC’s enemies an empty victory. When it came to a choice between journalists and whistleblowers stumbling over the truth on the one hand and a government obsessed not just with burnishing the truth but creating it on the other, Lord Hutton chose government. ’
– Kevin Marsh, former editor of the BBC’s The World At One and Today for more than 20 years