The Observer's media commentator Peter Preston questions today why the 170 journalists in the Lobby who cover Parliament day after day did not uncover the MPs' expenses scandal.
Preston asks: "Praise Will Lewis and his Telegraph team for taking the plunge and buying the pirate disc of demeaning expenses detail. But wonder how so many reporters missed what was going on under their noses year after year.
"Didn't anyone, updating his flipping contacts list, ask why Hazel Blears was always on the move? Why the chancellor's home telephone number kept changing? How Hon Members on £64,000 a year could afford to clear their moats, build duck islands or tackle dry rot 100 miles from Luton? Couldn't they have talked to old pals who'd gone over to the dark side - Julie Kirkbride, late of the Telegraph, Michael Gove, late of the Times, Ruth Kelly, late of the Guardian, all named and shamed by Lewis's hit squad?"
Preston says of the Lobby: "They're expert, self-regulated members of one gentlemen's club, monitoring another one. They need to cultivate sources, buy drinks and keep onside to keep the chat coming. They are part of the institution, in a way. They do not turn over stones."
He adds: "Remember, it was the ultimate journalist outsider, Heather Brooke (formerly of the Spartanburg Herald-Journal and Spokane Spokesman-Review) who set this whole show rolling, using freedom of information and the courts to bring the old club to its knees. We'll need many more like her to keep up the pressure now - in, automatically, a far more open house where the duty to inform comes top of every shop."
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Yes, this is a problem - the lack of investigative journalism, and the generally supine attitude of the media, who will, uncritically, quote an MP, and then not analyse whether a. what they are saying has any factual basis or b. whether they are contradicting themselves.
Much journalism in the UK is infuriating to read, as a result.
Regarding those MP's who have demonstrated such an astounding lack of competence:Disgraced MP's should not be allowed to stay on in parliament like a bad smell - they must resign their seats, and leave parliament immediately - the only reason they want to stay on, is so they can pick up a large lump sum cheque.....These dodgy MP's must get the boot NOW. They don't deserve £64,000 in "resettlement grant" cash. Do they?
What is a possible solution? Salaries should be set reasonably high, but in line with the Civil Service Pay Scale. Just as London's Court of Common Council maintains a small suite of bedrooms for use of its 100 Member Parliament, so Westminster should do the same - so MP's who need to overnight in London, can do so in a modicum of comfort, and at minimal expense to the taxpayer.
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