David Camerons’ poor choice of PR agency

July 16th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Independent

The scale of private links between David Cameron and News International was exposed for the first time last night, with the Prime Minister shown to have met Rupert Murdoch’s executives on no fewer than 26 occasions in just over a year since he entered Downing Street.

What the fuck is this all about then? 26 meeting in 15 months? Nearly one meeting a fortnight for over a year? Who the fuck did Cunty Cameron think News International are? A fucking PR agency? What? Oh.

What other company gets to have it’s executives meet with the prime minister every other fucking week, not counting short spells when there may be ideas for a policy being bandied about? These weren’t just reporters getting a statement or interview, these meetings were with people that were guiding and and shaping the direction of the News International. What the fuck were they talking about?

I can understand why Cameron would have 15 meetings with the execs from News International since May this year, they do have to get their story straight, don’t they.

I’ll ask again, in normal circumstances, and that period was supposed to be ‘ordinary’ as both Plods’ and New Intls’ enquiries had come to a close, what other fucking company gets it’s top nobs an exclusive audience with the prime minister once a fortnight?

Return of the News of the World?

July 11th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

A former editor of the Sunday Express is trying to get together a consortium to breath life back into the News of the World.

Susan Douglas reckons…
“I think News of the World readers want the News of the World, and the team that produces it is still extant and haven’t done anything inappropriate or unlawful as far as we know,” she said. “The News of the World’s trouble is really about misdemeanours of management. People talk about prurience and invading people’s privacy but when it’s in the public interest, it’s completely justified. I think there will be mounting public opinion behind anyone who tried to save the News of the World on that basis.”

Well, the current staff may not have done anything unlawful, alledgedly, saying they haven’t done anything inappropriate is pushing it a bit, as Charlie Brooker points out (my emphasis)…

The centre pages consist of a gallery of their “greatest hits”: curiously underwhelming when it’s all laid out. The Profumo scandal and Jeffrey Archer are in there, but so are three “gotcha!” snaps of celebs snorting coke – one of whom, Kerry Katona, was captured by a camera hidden in her own bathroom. Call me squeamish, but I’d say concealing a lens in a woman’s bathroom is worse than hacking her phone. At least voicemails can’t reveal which hand she wipes her arse with.

Also nestled amongst the roster of glorious front pages – JACKO’S DEATHBED: a photograph of the rumpled sheets on which Michael Jackson died. Yum! Proud of that, are they? Why, yes: hence its inclusion in their farewell souvenir. At least they didn’t include a little collectible square of his skin.

The News of the World readers may still want the News of the World, is someone that used to head the Sunday Express and the NotWs’ current staff the best people to revive the title as a “responsible investigative newspaper”?

The NotW readers probably don’t want to read a “responsible” paper anyway.

h/t Jon Slattery

The priorities of Rupert Murdoch

July 11th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

As the Wapping Cowboy landed in London he was asked what his priority was. His smiling reply was “this one”, gesturing to Rebekah Wade Brooks who was with him at the time.

What the hell does that mean? Why should Brooks be his priority? in what way is she his priority? To ensure nothing is pinned on her?

I’d have thought his priority would’ve been along the lines of sorting this mess out, repairing the damage to his/News Corps reputation, getting justice for the phone hacking victims (too far fetched?) or even making pots of cash. But Rebekah Brooks is his priority?

What has she got on Murdoch that he wants, almost seems to need her within his empire? Murdoch could cut her loose, not even hang her out to dry, just let her resign with dignity, in their eyes, and a big part of the problem goes away.

Unless, of course, he’s just fucking with our minds… as usual.

Accuracy must not be forgotten with any inquiry

July 11th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

FullFact.org

As we prepare for the inquiry, we must not let these garish allegations of criminality distract us from the serial vandalism to public debate perpetrated by newspapers which fail to take care to publish accurate information, and fail to correct the record quickly when mistakes happen. Correct that part of press culture and the rest will followblockquote>

Read the rest: FullFact.org – Press culture inquiry must focus on accuracy, not just criminality

Update: yeah, i get the irony of getting the title all wrong. now corrected.

Jeremy Hunt asks for advice

July 11th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

BBC

The culture secretary is seeking fresh advice from regulators on News Corp’s takeover bid for BSkyB, amid the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.

Business editor Robert Peston said Jeremy Hunt had written to Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) after the 168-year-old paper was shut down.

Our correspondent says the implication is that Mr Hunt could now refer the deal to the Competition Commission.

It might not be what most people want, referring to Ofcom, but Jeremy Hunt asking for advice is a stepin the right direction.

Hopefully Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading will give the right advice. Whether Hunt takes it or not will be another matter.

News of the World are cunts

July 4th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

The Guardian

Glenn Mulcaire, the News of the World started illegally intercepting mobile phone messages. Scotland Yard is now investigating evidence that the paper hacked directly into the voicemail of the missing girl’s own phone. As her friends and parents called and left messages imploring Milly to get in touch with them, the News of the World was listening and recording their every private word.

But the journalists at the News of the World then encountered a problem. Milly’s voicemail box filled up and would accept no more messages. Apparently thirsty for more information from more voicemails, the News of the World intervened – and deleted the messages that had been left in the first few days after her disappearance. According to one source, this had a devastating effect: when her friends and family called again and discovered that her voicemail had been cleared, they concluded that this must have been done by Milly herself and, therefore, that she must still be alive. But she was not. The interference created false hope and extra agony for those who were misled by it.

The Dowler family then granted an exclusive interview to the News of the World in which they talked about their hope, quite unaware that it had been falsely kindled by the newspaper’s own intervention. Sally Dowler told the paper: “If Milly walked through the door, I don’t think we’d be able to speak. We’d just weep tears of joy and give her a great big hug.”

The deletion of the messages also caused difficulties for the police by confusing the picture when they had few leads to pursue.It also potentially destroyed valuable evidence.

To angry for words, but just who, exactly, do these cunts, and not just the fuckers at the News of the Screws, now and then, but the red tops and the press in general, think they are? All in the pursuit of profit. Fuck the feelings of people. They not only tried to get exclusives from this right fucking good wheeze of listening in to a dead girls phone, but also took an exclusive where the parents explained how they were clinging onto hope that the News of the World itself was feeding. Did no one feel a little bit guilty? no one had a little nagging feeling at the back of their mind that what they were doing wasn’t just illegal but so fucking morally wrong?

They must be cunts of the highest order, because I bet no one involved, the private investigators or the reporters, made a shitload of cash out of it, not enough to stuff in the black hole where their soul should be. The Editors, didn’t do too bad, Coulson became the spin doctor to a Cameron, Rebekah Wade is now Murdochs’ man in charge of the UK and is very friendly with the political classes of all colours.

And what exactly were the fucking police doing, too?…

The newspaper also made no effort to conceal its activity from Surrey police. After it had hacked the message from the recruitment agency on Milly’s phone, the paper informed police about it. It was Surrey detectives who established that the call was not intended for Milly Dowler. At the time, Surrey police suspected that phones belonging to detectives and to Milly’s parents also were being targeted.

Couldn’t they fucking multi-task? Can they only do one crime at a time? The News of the World goes to the police with a message from Millys’ phone, and the police don’t ask where they got it from? The papers aren’t the only ones that need a kick in the face.

News International, part of Murdoch’s media empire, said: “We have been co-operating fully with Operation Weeting since our voluntary disclosure in January restarted the investigation into illegal voicemail interception. This particular case is clearly a development of great concern and we will be conducting our own inquiries. We will obviously co-operate fully with any police request on this should we be asked.”

Yeah, and look how the previous internal enquiries turned out.

Local paper holds local MP to account. oh. maybe not then.

June 20th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Richard Bartholomew, did a post on Saturday about Nadine Dorries attack on Tim Ireland, has followed up the suggestion in her new and worse re-post that

My local newspaper editors and journalists are well aware of him and describe him as a ‘menace’ and much, much worse.

Bartholomew asked, via Twitter, the editor of Bedfordshire on Sunday. The resulting conversation, I must say runs completely against what Steven Baxter reckons about local rags, but then there is alwasy an exception. Oh, wait. Tim would be recognised as a local to Chris Gill, and so I suppose, just like Dorries ‘isn’t accountable to non-constiuents’, Chris doesn’t give a toss about non-locals either.

Have a read of Richards’ post. It is quite a shitty and depressing read.

Bahrain: I’ll get my dad on you!

June 15th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Via D-Notice2012 (the blogger formerly known as D-Notice) I hear that the Bahrain government is going to sue the Independent for publishing stories about anti government protesters being shot by police, torture, being in the pocket of Saudi Arabia, etc. Y’know, the usual Middle East dictator/ruling royal family past-times and hobbies.

My first reaction was “good luck with that”, but then I remembered our courts aren’t the most sensible at times, especially when a foreign government (and one that is now in the Saudis’ pocket) is concerned.

D-Notice notes that UK local governments can’t sue in English courts, so foreign one shouldn’t be able to either. It looks like they’re gonna try, though.

If Bahrain does get to court it’ll be for libel, I presume and so the onus will be on the Indie to prove what it says is true rather than Bahrain to prove otherwise. This, I’m guessing shouldn’t be too hard for the Indie to do seeing as a) it isn’t just the Indie saying this stuff and b) the Bahrain government has singled out Rober Fisk as the main reporter responsible and Fisk has a reputation for being bob on with this type of thing.

But does Baharain really want to go to court, or is it, more likely just trying to scare the Indie/press?

Bahrain has much more resources than the Indie and so could drag this out and cost the Indie so much that it hashas no choice but to capitulate, after all, if this did get to court and the judgement went against Bahrain, it could open it up to charges of war crimes or crim against humanity (or whatever) and end up with arrest warrant being issued against it’s leaders for the International Criminal Court (or whatever the place is called).

Would that threat if the ICC scare the Bahraini officials? I doubt it.

My second reaction was ” WTF? hasn’t this guy read the British press?”

The “Publications director-general and acting press and external
media director-general” Nawaf Mohammed Al-Maawda has

called upon all media to observe accuracy and objectivity and project the true image…

Hahahaha! In the British press?! Like I said, good luck with that one.

On quietly changing names

June 14th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

John Elmes and why you can’t trust Times Higher Education.

Times Higher Education

June 4th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

You see that, up there? The title of this post? Well, I am proud to announce that not only is Times Higher Education the title of this post but also the new name of this blog. You like it?

I think it’s rather snazzy. Quite catchy and if you’re clever the first letters of each word spell ‘THE’, which, if some one else wanted to use the name too would be quite a clever little device they could add so our different market sectors don’t get confused.

I’ve spotted a couple of other people seem to have also adopted the name, as well. But HA! I’ve done a little check and the name isn’t trademarked, probably…

.

so even though these other chaps were using it before me, it doesn’t matter, cos I thought of it all by myself before I knew they had. That makes it all right you see.

That’s how it works, isn’t it?

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