British Journalism Review

As the result of an action brought by Max Mosley, son of Sir Oswald, against the News of the World, the media face another reading of the law regarding privacy. The BJR argues, as has journalist John Pilger, that "The lost issue is to protect the public from the state, not the press" and urges the creation of a press industry-wide council to examine the issue of privacy and intrusion. It could take on a role similar to that of a parliamentary select committee, investigating every aspect of privacy and its preservation against the depredations of the state the media, with its findings stimulating a serious debate not just among politicians, but among members of the public, too.

The outgoing executive editor of the Washington Post predicts a bright future for United States newspapers, writing: "The future of newspaper newsrooms is especially important to the future of accountability journalism in the United States because they still produce the most original reporting, compared to stand-alone websites, local television stations or even the big broadcast and cable networks. But they also must cope with high fixed costs of production and distribution of printed newspapers. How they restructure their economic models, take better advantage of the internet and define their public service missions in a time of enormous stress will determine the future of the accountability journalism that is so important in a representative democracy."

Loser Ken Livingstone's director of media during the recent London mayoral election, Johnson questions the validity of a newspaper with a monopoly in the capital coming out for one candidate, as opposed to a political party, in such a contest. She writes: "For months Londoners had been regaled with banner first edition, front-page headlines such as 'Ken's Aide and Lost Millions'. These were then plastered on publicity billboards that appeared at the entrances of most tube stations, and all the major ones, and outside newsagents throughout the city. And there they stayed for the entire day, or, if such a story led the paper on a Friday, for the whole weekend." Perhaps it was the billboards that won the election for Boris Johnson, she argues.

Former People columnist and Daily Mirror foreign correspondent Smith wonders why journalists of a certain age are hooked on nostalgia. What he describes as a "battle hardened band of brothers" are still united by a spirit of comradeship and are still spinning yarns of life in the trenches in some half forgotten war. "To outsiders," he continues, "this eagerness to embrace and commemorate a bygone era must be puzzling. Do accountants get together and re-live memorable audits? Do solicitors gather en masse to recall magistrates' courtroom capers of the past? Perhaps. But it is unlikely that their reminiscences, or those of those now plying the trade from nondescript offices dotted around the city, are laced with the laughter and lunacy of tales from Fleet Street."

As President Robert Mugabe continues to reduce the country to rubble, the editor of its biggest-selling paper, The Zimbabwean, reports on chilling tactics of suppression: "Despite having an arsenal of anti-press laws at his disposal, the leader of Zimbabwe's military junta, Robert Mugabe, has resorted to using brute force and the threat of assassination to silence the independent media. Yet another list, prepared by Mugabe's much-loathed Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), is doing the rounds of internet websites. I take a cursory look at the list, and yawn. The same old names are there - all the stalwarts of our profession who endeavour constantly to bring to the world's attention through our writings the appalling atrocities being committed in the name of sovereignty by the Mugabe regime."

The House of Lords Communications Committee recommends more muscle for the broadcasting watchdog, yet Ofcom's report reads like a souped-up store catalogue, writes academic Petley. And he attacks Ofcom's latest reports: "New News [the Lords report] and Ofcom's first and second PSB review demonstrate in the clearest possible manner that what the vast majority of UK citizens want is, at the very least, the maintenance of the current level of provision of regional news programmes on ITV. But what does the Annual Report highlight as Ofcom's proudest achievement in 2007/8 in terms of "improving compliance and empowering citizens and consumers"? Clamping down on the mis-selling of mobile phones, making it easier to switch mobile phone operators, introducing protection against "slamming" (having your phone account moved to another provider without your knowledge), imposing fines on broadcasters for operating premium phone line scams, and requiring Channel 4 to broadcast Ofcom's censure of Celebrity Big Brother 2007 on three separate occasions." This signals that the prospects for public service broadcasting as a whole, let alone regional news provision on ITV, are indeed bleak in the extreme.

Public response to disasters depends on news coverage, writes BBC producer turned academic Franks, but as budgets continue to shrink, is the media becoming too reliant on aid agencies? "Disasters - both natural and man-made - only exist when covered by the media. Plenty of terrible things happen that remain unreported. Most disasters are known about only by those directly affected. And the crises that do get media attention are not necessarily those that kill and otherwise harm the most victims. There is invariably a random element in how much, or if at all, something is reported, but this is even more so in faraway, difficult locations." As a result, she claims, aid agencies are having to employ questionable methods to obtain media attention. "Today many aid campaigns are substantial global operations and it is in the public interest that they are reported rigorously and impartially. If journalists and aid workers embrace each other too tightly, that's unlikely to happen."

The first in an occasional series about great press photographers examines the life and work of Glasgow-born, U.S.-based Benson.

On the brink of enormous political change and with full independence looming, Scotland sadly lacks a powerful indigenous newspaper voice, claims Scots journalists MacMillan. The owners of The Scotsman and The Herald have not and are not investing adequately in the papers, he writes: "They...have few answers for journalism in the 21st century. It is not too late to change course, but time is running out. If these companies are to right their wrongs and reverse this betrayal of Scotland, they must first admit that they are currently embarked on a liquidation strategy."

The proprietor slips down the media hot 100 and his papers have become irrelevant. These are sad times for journalists at the once-great Expresses, says a former Daily Express diary editor. "The trade has been diminished by the [Richard] Desmond revolution," writes McEntee, referring to cost-cutting and the downsizing of staff across the group's titles. "And the sorry decline of a once-great group has done nothing for Desmond's standing within the industry, despite abandoning his early support for New Labour and reverting to the Expresses' traditional pro-Tory stance. In the recent publication of the Media Guardian's 2008 top 100 movers and shakers, he tumbled 20 places to number 55." Lord Beaverbrook, great journalist and proprietor of the Expresses, would weep with frustration.

Sky TV business and economics editor Wilson writes that City commentators may have no idea what's going on, or when it will end, but the credit crunch has brought a new element to television coverage: pictures. "But suddenly, for once, here was the real thing - anxious punters queuing around the block to get their money out of Northern Rock. This was not supposed to happen. But it was happening, not in a banana republic but in a leading industrialised country whose administration had been selling the "financial stability" story for ten years. This was in a town near you. The story had marched right in through the front door, to you and your family. And that really is the nub of the whole affair. A year ago the credit crisis was still very much business-page material, mere back-of-the-book stuff. The journalistic task, then, was to find the first indicators that a financial problem had spilled into the real economy. Well, we found them."

Standards of press behaviour have plunged and the PCC sees much of this as "inevitable", writes editor and columnist Linklater. Now's the time for those at the sharp end to revolt: "When innocent citizens are caught in the crossfire of media investigation, it is the responsibility of the reporter to remember that the measure of an intrusive inquiry should not just be the depth of tomorrow's headline, but the human being on the receiving end of it. It is, of course, the responsibility of editors and proprietors to ensure that their newspapers observe the basic rules that should govern all good journalism. But ultimately, it is the reporter, the correspondent, the writer of first instance who must decide, by listening to his or her own conscience, whether they are treating their subjects with decency and respect rather than cavalier disregard for everything except the next day's headline."