Former BBC head of news asks if British journalism’s reputation is irrevocably damaged in wake of NoW affair
British journalism’s reputation has taken a battering of late amid fresh revelations around the distastefulness and severity of the phone hacking scandal. In his blog on The Drum, former senior BBC exec Atholl Duncan asks is there any way back for British journalism.
R.I.P. The Reputation of British Journalism
The reputation of British journalism lies critically wounded. Can it ever recover? The victims are not just those who caused the tragedy. Nor those who were violated at such appalling moments in their lives. Every sub-editor, district reporter, correspondent and news editor is smaller because of this.
Most journalists I know are driven to work in the public interest to further the public good. Now the public will need a little more convincing of that.
A lot of proud journalism is about challenging the comfortable on behalf of the discomforted. This means fighting local causes, highlighting injustice, exposing lies.
How did it all come to this? Phone hacking Milly Dowler’s mobile? Causing people to believe she might be alive when she was dead? Intercepting the phone messages of the parents of the Soham schoolgirls? Targeting the parents of 7/7 victims? Actions as warped as the minds of those who carried out these atrocities.
They used to call it the gutter press but now the gutter is too good.
Rebekah Brooks defended her reputation in an email to staff saying, “The battle for better protection of children from paedophiles and better rights for the families and the victims of these crimes defined my editorships.”
Yet the culture of the newsroom which she presided over seems to have been complicit in hacking the families’ and victims’ phones. This cannot be more diametrically opposite to battling for their rights.
The culture and behaviour of any news team comes from above. The “relentless pressure” which drove people to do this comes from above.
Responsibility lies with the editorial leader. It always does. It cannot be shirked.
While the political fury will build, the commercial fall out from boycotting advertisers will scare the Murdoch empire more. But what damage could the public tsunami cause? We know it is coming. We don’t know where it will strike and with what force?
The future of self-regulation hangs by a thread and with it the protection of freedom of the press.
The forces at play here are volcanic in their power. Brooks, Murdoch and journalism are in triage.
Ms Brooks’ fate is certain. As always, the outcome for Murdoch is more difficult to predict. While this black affair plays out, the reputation of British journalism is left searching for its heart.