Jon Bright (London, OK): You might remember one of Tony Blair's final speeches was a critique of the current state of the UK media, and the problems it causes in public life. He compared it (us) to a "feral beast", intent on consuming everything in its path.
The speech provoked a lot of comment at the time, but (perhaps unsurprisingly) not much has changed since. But it's a topic worth pursuing. In order to do just that, the Media Standards Trust are organising a series of seminars this year discussing the charge, the first of which Martin Moore reports from here.
There are some pretty interesting remarks made, not the least of which are these by General Sir Rupert Smith (who served in the Gulf and Kosovo), likening his job to the master of ceremonies in a roman gladiatorial arena:
All around you in the stands is a highly factional audience who pays attention to what is going on in that pit by peering through the drinking straw of their Coca‑Cola drink at where it's noisiest. Your business as that theatre commander, as that producer, is to write, and tell, and act the most compelling narrative in the minds and the view of the people in the stands.
Your problem is the media through which you communicate is a highly unreliable communications system, and you have to understand it to achieve their purpose.
To that end, I operated in an understanding that I had this symbiotic relationship, but it was not a symmetrical one. It was highly asymmetric.
I never set out to deceive, but that doesn't mean to say that I have to tell everybody everything. I was quite prepared to practice illusions. A conjurer. You know he's a conjurer. You pay good money to come and see the conjurer. You know he's got a rabbit up his leg, but what you don't know is when and where, and in what circumstances you're going to produce it.
I'm very pleased that when I successfully carry out an illusion that I never lied about being a conjurer or that I've got a rabbit. I provide volumes of as accurate data that I can. The side effect from hot copy flows with good communications. Most journalists are idle, frightened people and they will go to my tap and get all the valid information they want.
None of this is too suprising, but it is still a compelling picture of how people in public life view the media - as something that distorts, something that must be managed, something which needs to be controlled. Is this the case? If so, what could be done to make media more accurate, and more reliable? Or is this distortion and voraciousness the price we pay for independence and accountability?
I haven't had a chance to read the full transcript properly, so if anyone spots any more interesting quotes please do stick them in the comments.
