In response to an FT View on 24th June 2014, entitled 'Justice and the British media'
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3e2db6a8-fbb3-11e3-9a03-00144feab7de.html#ixzz46ZfIvLAS
AS AT 22nd APRIL 2016 ALL READERS' COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE HAD BEEN REMOVED. I HAVE NO IDEA WHEN THAT OCURRED.
"For the past three years, British political and public life has been convulsed by revelations about press misconduct. Claims that newspapers listened clandestinely to the telephone messages of politicians, celebrities and private individuals have not only caused an outcry; they led to the closure of a century-old newspaper, Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World, and calls for statutory curbs on the British press...The bigger question is what this trial and its verdicts signify for the British media in general"
The question is much bigger than what this trial means for the media. The question is what it means for challenging crooked power mongers - whether they be in the media, banking, politics, whatever.
Does anyone seriously believe Rupert Murdoch when he says he didn't know about what his journalists were up to? He hasn't been in a court - why not - because he will ruin anyone who goes after him. Abuse of power
Does anyone seriously believe that Tony Blair and George Bush hadn't decided to go to war whatever the 'intelligence' said. He hasn't been in court. Why not? Because of 'national security' - Abuse of power
Does anyone believe that Jamie Dimon knew nothing about the London Whale, the Bernie Madoff 'facilitation' or any of the other little deals that have cost the bank $30bn? He hasn't been in court. Why not? Because he knows too much about all the little scams that Washington is party to in order to keep their own little Ponzi scheme going - Abuse of power
This could be a very long list.
There is a very big difference between spying on people, changing context, and twisting events to sell tacky little stories in disgusting little rags like Murdoch's papers…and holding people like Murdoch, Blair, and Wall Street to account by challenging them. The media hasn't been very good at that for a very long while. Where are the John Pilgers? They're on the internet and the mainstream loves to put them down. True, some of them are a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic…and some will one day be as celebrated as John Pilger…because they are real journalists.
The FT amongst many others in the quality press, lacks bite, lacks courage, and lacks conviction. Is this going to make you even more timid. I hope not, but I fear it will.