Hard News: The scandal that keeps on giving
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It’s actually quite insulting to Baldwin to somehow compare him to Coulson.
Diddums. Look, Ashcroft has alleged that The Times tired to hack his phone. (Which The Times and Baldwin have strenuously denied.) Frankly, you may think Ashcroft is a rich prick and you'd want a second opinion if he said fire was hot and water was wet. Fair enough.
But I don't think it's Tory spin to note that Ed Milibrand's anti-Murdoch tirades have probably been lovingly polished by a spin doctor fresh from the more respectable end of the evil empire.
And if (please note the emphasis) Ashcroft is right, and Baldwin -- or anyone else at The Times -- broke the law, I don't give a figgy fart how "distinguished" and "dogged" he is. If we actually live in a society under the rule of law, then the law protects everyone. Even folks like Lord Ashcroft and seedy celebutards we enlightened folks don't like.
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And I'd also note a little irony about the phone-hacking that someone on Mediawatch last week pointed out: It's hard to see any news-worthy information obtained that couldn't have been uncovered legally by old school leg work.
But as the same person pointed out, that takes time, experience and a properly resourced newsroom and an institutional memory at your back. I don't think stringing up Rupert Murdoch from the nearest lamp post is going to do a damn thing to break that vicious circle.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
It’s actually quite insulting to Baldwin to somehow compare him to Coulson.
Diddums. Look, Ashcroft has alleged that The Times tired to hack his phone. (Which The Times and Baldwin have strenuously denied.) Frankly, you may think Ashcroft is a rich prick and you’d want a second opinion if he said fire was hot and water was wet. Fair enough.
I’m with Matthew. Coulson has been arrested by the police. Former employees have gone on the record about his actions, which included approving gross breaches of the privacy of victims and their families. Cameron was repeatedly warned not to hire him, but did so.
All there is on Baldwin is an allegation from a political powerbroker whose business and financial dealings -- including what appeared to be an attempt to get around rules on political donations -- were investigated by a Times team that included Baldwin, back in the 1990s. (There was no phone-hacking, but Ashcroft says a PI, not hired by Baldwin, improperly got details of one of his bank accounts.) I don’t think there is a serious equivalence.
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Matthew Littlewood, in reply to
Diddums. Look, Ashcroft has alleged that The Times tired to hack his phone. (Which The Times and Baldwin have strenuously denied.) Frankly, you may think Ashcroft is a rich prick and you’d want a second opinion if he said fire was hot and water was wet. Fair enough.
But I don’t think it’s Tory spin to note that Ed Milibrand’s anti-Murdoch tirades have probably been lovingly polished by a spin doctor fresh from the more respectable end of the evil empire.
And if (please note the emphasis) Ashcroft is right, and Baldwin – or anyone else at The Times – broke the law, I don’t give a figgy fart how “distinguished” and “dogged” he is. If we actually live in a society under the rule of law, then the law protects everyone. Even folks like Lord Ashcroft and seedy celebutards we enlightened folks don’t like.
I think NewLabour cuddling up to NI is a separate issue and as I said, only the LibDems can feasibly claim their hands are entirely clean on this one. But so far what they’ve accused Baldwin of having done, has proved baseless. Obviously, in the event, something does come out that suggests Baldwin’s behaviour was less than legal, then that’s different, but so far, there’s been no proof, or indeed, suggestion from the police that he has. So again, comparing Coulson to Baldwin is a false equivalence. The Guardian certainly would’ve run hard on Baldwin if knew of any wrongdoing- they haven’t pulled any punches throughout.
Otherwise we should have a go at the Telegraph for effectively buying the materials that blew the expenses scandal wide open after it had been shopped to all of the other broadsheets. As for Ashcroft, his status matters less than the fact that- like many a peer of both stripes (c.f. “Cash for Honours”)- he was less than honest about how he siphoned his donations. Then again, like I said, the Met do find something on Baldwin, then sure, it’s a different game entirely.
Edit to add: I see RB made the same point, more succinctly. Bugger!
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Matthew Littlewood, in reply to
And I’d also note a little irony about the phone-hacking that someone on Mediawatch last week pointed out: It’s hard to see any news-worthy information obtained that couldn’t have been uncovered legally by old school leg work.
But as the same person pointed out, that takes time, experience and a properly resourced newsroom and an institutional memory at your back. I don’t think stringing up Rupert Murdoch from the nearest lamp post is going to do a damn thing to break that vicious circle.
Now this I can agree on- in the sense that Murdoch's fall will not, by itself, change the state of resources in newsrooms. That's a separate issue. However, what the Guardian has uncovered has revealed increasingly that there an endemic sicknesses in the establishment linked to certain parts of NI's influence.
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(how do I embed images here?)
this image is just so wonderful - not the devil, honest .....
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3410,
this image is just so wonderful - not the devil, honest .....
Can't find the clip (but did see it on ABC Australia News on Stratos) - it actually looks fairly plausible for at least ten seconds.
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BenWilson, in reply to
LOL that's brilliant, goes in my collection next to the brilliant one of Kate and Will on the balcony, caught in a position that looks more than just a little bit rude.
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3410,
It makes you wonder if the first people that claimed to have seen a demon had in fact misidentified a human man with a somewhat taller lawyer standing immediately behind him.
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(is there a difference?)
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BenWilson, in reply to
Yes, that is technically a succubus.
ETA: Which in turn probably makes Murdoch technically a Warlock, rather than a demon.
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3410,
Can you explain the so-called Knee-Face Woman effect?
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Russell:
I'll concede the factfail on my part (practising what I preach and all that); and of course it's bleeding obvious that Coulson is facing incredibly serious criminal charges and Baldwin isn't. (Though the high-profile resignations at the Met doesn't mean there's still not questions to answer about the *cough* less than rigorous investigations into phone hacking allegations.)
But I still stand by my finding it deliciously ironic that Ed Milibrand's chief spin doctor came straight from the Evil Empire. As I said, I really don't think the public interest is that well-served when journalism is increasingly seen as a stepping stone to political/corporate PR rather than an end in itself.
Otherwise we should have a go at the Telegraph for effectively buying the materials that blew the expenses scandal wide open after it had been shopped to all of the other broadsheets.
Sorry, Matthew, who's playing the false equivalence now? Unless you've seen something I haven't, The Telegraph has consistently refused to disclose its source and neither confirmed-nor-denied that money changed hands to obtain the information. Also fair to point out that The Met declined to investigate these allegations.
But say the biggest story The Torygraph has broken in years was six-figure chequebook journalism? Do you think it's credible to say "yes, it was a legitimate story in the public interest" and still have serious ethical qualms about journalists and editors paying for stories?
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Anyway, since it’s Friday some You Tube fun to round off what’s been a long, strange week (h/t DPF). I don’t know how you cede the moral high ground to a maggoty skid mark like Piers Morgan, but MP Louise Mensch pulled it off brilliantly.
Wait a mo', yes I do. Make a claim that just isn't true. Don't do the smart thing: Like apologise for your error of fact, while pointing out someone who was fired from The Daily Mirror (!) for publishing faked torture photos really should get the fuck off his moral Shetland pony.
How hard would that have been?
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Russell Brown, in reply to
But I still stand by my finding it deliciously ironic that Ed Milibrand’s chief spin doctor came straight from the Evil Empire.
Also ironic:. That unnamed friends of the Conservative Party hired a team of private detectives this year to dig into Baldwin's private life.
They basically went for a tit-for-tat for Coulson, and it doesn't appear that they've been able to find anything much. Given what we know about Coulson, Baldwin is basically a misdirection.
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BenWilson, in reply to
Without tapping her skull, I'd say a fairly convincing human. Possibly wielding the power of three.
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Matthew Littlewood, in reply to
Sorry, Matthew, who’s playing the false equivalence now? Unless you’ve seen something I haven’t, The Telegraph has consistently refused to disclose its source and neither confirmed-nor-denied that money changed hands to obtain the information. Also fair to point out that The Met declined to investigate these allegations.
But say the biggest story The Torygraph has broken in years was six-figure chequebook journalism? Do you think it’s credible to say “yes, it was a legitimate story in the public interest” and still have serious ethical qualms about journalists and editors paying for stories?
Oh yes, absolutely. And there are probably questions to be raised about how they got the information, although, it was certainly in the public good, and arguably the biggest political story of the last two decades (along with this one, it seems!). But in the case of the Telegraph expenses scoop and Baldwin, I don’t think either were obtained through illegal means- although there may well have been underhand methods used.
And oh dear, that Youtube clip is a trainwreck! Why does Wolf Blitzer have to SHOUT ALL THE TIME?
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Russell Brown, in reply to
But say the biggest story The Torygraph has broken in years was six-figure chequebook journalism? Do you think it's credible to say "yes, it was a legitimate story in the public interest" and still have serious ethical qualms about journalists and editors paying for stories?
Read the Heather Brooke column in the original post. She nails it when she points out that a market only develops for information when it's not public.
And, yes, it seems to be generally accepted that the Telegraph paid an insider for the MPs' expenses data. It shouldn't have had to happen that way, but I think there's a very obvious public interest in the story.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Can you explain the so-called
Knee-Face Woman effect?It's because she's, ahem, stacked...
thereby giving the illusion that her
nose is out of joint! -
Also, Matthew and I have to stop agreeing like this.
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Spot-on satirical summary from our friends across the ditch (h/t Jack Yan).
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Rupert the Bull...
this image is just so wonderful - not the devil, honest .....
... but do we know if the Murdoch family changed their name from Moloch early on?
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Rich of Observationz, in reply to
And now, we find that the 'backpackers' left Christchurch at the first available opportunity on an Air Force 757.
Were the RNZAF offering compassionate flights to anyone wanting to get out of CHC after the quake? I don't remember that - Air NZ started doing $50 flights shortly after.
Seems to me that there must have been some sort of official interest beyond them being ordinary kids.
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Rich: Yes. See entry for 5:28 AM. They may have been ordinary kids, but they were also tourists with no friends and family to stay with.
Simply googling "Christchurch refugee air force plane" yields a number of reports that suggest there is nothing odd here.
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And more:
Last updated 05:00 24/02/2011
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Shattered locals and tourists yesterday began boarding civilian and air force planes in their hundreds to leave Christchurch, while locals who had been away from the city headed home on flights carrying emergency personnel and equipment.
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