Investigations: Journalists can still be heroes

I've written an article for InPublishing about the best investigative journalism in the UK over the past year or so, partly inspired by being a judge in the British Journalism Awards.

What struck me was the way some investigations now cross borders and involve different media collaborating, thereby evading legal action in one country that could suppress reporting. There are also interesting alliances between traditional newspapers, broadcasters and digital media for investigating stories and analysing data.

Among the stories I looked at were the HSBC files leaked from Switzerland exposing the use of tax havens; mismanagement at the Kids Company charity; the use of hard sell phone tactics on behalf of leading charities;  corruption allegations at Tower Hamlets Council; doping in athletics; politicians for hire by lobbyists; mistreatment of young offenders; the FIFA scandal; the investigation into Asian grooming gangs; and tennis match fixing.

Among the newspapers featured are the Guardian, Le Monde, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Daily Telegraph, The Times and Sunday Times; as well as Private Eye and the Spectator; programmes from the BBC and Channel Four and investigations by BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Individual journalists mentioned include Andrew Norfolk, Andrew Jennings, Jonathan Calvert, Andrew Gilligan, Tim Minogue, Miles Goslett and Ted Jeory.

It shows that there's much more to journalism than clickbait and that journalists can still be heroes.

• The Guardian, the BBC,  Süddeutsche Zeitung and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media organisations in 78 countries have followed up the HSBC leaks investigation brilliantly with the Panama Papers, revealing how the rich and powerful hide their wealth via offshore financial deals, described as "the biggest ever leak of confidential documents."

Media Quotes of the Week: From 'job massacre' at Newsquest newspapers to the journalists who exposed corruption at Tower Hamlets Council

Chris Morley, NUJ Northern and Midlands organiser, in a statement on 30 more proposed job cuts at Newsquest: “The words used by our members following today's announcements are 'shell shocked' and 'job massacre'. After so many casualties and waves of cutbacks at Newsquest centres, it does seem that the company is at war with its staff. "

Laura Davison, NUJ national organiser, objecting to the pay rise for Johnston Press chief Ashley Highfield: "A pay rise of £26,000 is more than the pay of a news editor on some weekly titles in an entire year. The number of jobs axed by JP over the past three years has left staff stressed and newsrooms struggling. That's why Johnston Press NUJ members have called on the directors to give up their bonuses and invest the money in frontline editorial where it matters."

GuardianObserver NUJ ‏@go_NUJ on Twitter: "Johnston Press wants to know #WhatMattersToMe Tell them you want a strong local press with proper pay and staffing levels for journalists."

Paul Dacre, quoted by the Spectator: "All newspapers – I would argue – face the threat of being chained by statutory press controls as an authoritarian state, aided by those giants of rectitude Max Mosley and Hugh Grant – becomes ever more powerful and intolerant of criticism. As it conspires to extend its control over a commercially viable free press which I love because it is beholden to no one and the only genuinely free thing we have left in modern Britain."

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein in a statement: "“This vicious verbal assault on migrants and asylum seekers in the UK tabloid press has continued unchallenged under the law for far too long. I am an unswerving advocate of freedom of expression, which is guaranteed under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), but it is not absolute. Article 20 of the same Covenant says ‘Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.’”

Jeremy Paxman interviewed in the Radio Times: "I don't see Newsnight, I'm afraid. My idea of fun is to go to bed at 10.30pm and read a book."

Nick Cohen in the Observer: "Do not forget either that Rahman at all times enjoyed the mulish support of Ken Livingstone and elements of what now passes for the British left. The BBC, the Daily Telegraph, Private Eye and Ted Jeory, a fantastic Tower Hamlets reporter, who exposed on his blog the corruption stories that local papers wouldn’t print, fought back. But with honourable exceptions, London’s leftwing press ignored the stink in its own backyard and dismissed the accusations against Rahman as evidence of a 'deep substrate of' – you guessed it – 'racism'."

Andrew Gilligan in the Telegraph: "Rahman’s removal from office represents a victory for The Telegraph which has tirelessly investigated allegations of corruption and has long called for further scrutiny of Rahman’s office."

Ted Jeory in the Independent: "I started my spare-time blog in 2010 when I realised my former paper, the East London Advertiser, was no longer able or willing to keep an eye on the detail of the council administration. I kept plugging away where it should have been. For that, I received numerous legal threats from the town hall. None succeeded. But the retreat of so many local papers is deeply worrying. How many other Lutfur Rahmans are there out there?"

Daily Mail:  "Journalists rather than police or officials exposed Lutfur Rahman’s corruption – often at personal risk. It was only after dogged investigations by reporters such as Andrew Gilligan and Panorama’s John Ware that the scandal was revealed."

Quotes of the Week: From Mail's 'vile' front page to how much does an Edwina Currie quote cost?

Zoe Williams in the Guardian: "The Daily Mail reminds me a little bit of climate change: you think you've got the measure of just how bad it is, but every time you look it's taken another appalling leap forward. Yesterday, following the conviction of the Philpotts for the manslaughter of their six children, it called Mick Philpott the "vile product of welfare UK". The cynicism, the lack of respect for the dead, the dehumanising terminology (he "bred" the children, it says); the front page alone told us all we need to know." 

Daily Mail in a leader: "As the debate over welfare reform rages on, one mystery increasingly perplexes and infuriates the Guardianistas of the well-heeled, middle-class Left. Why, they ask over the Chablis, do the working-class poor so stubbornly refuse to share their enlightened belief in the wonders of the welfare state? To their bemusement, poll after poll has shown that three-quarters of voters (including most Labour supporters) want benefits reined in, with the clamour for cuts at its loudest among workers at the bottom end of the pay scale." 

George Osborne, as reported by the Guardian: "It's right we ask questions as a government, a society and as taxpayers, why we are subsidising lifestyles like these. It does need to be handled."

Dan Hodges on his Telegraph blog: "Headlines like the Mail’s, and lazy characterisations of those on welfare as 'scroungers' 'chavs' or the 'shameless generation' add nothing to our understanding of this complex issue. But nor does the similarly frenzied, emotive and immature language being deployed by welfare's self-styled defenders."

Joel Simon, executive director of the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists, in a letter to David Cameron on press regulation:"Prime Minister, we urge you to take a step back from the current proposals, which do not take into account the implications for press freedom beyond Fleet Street. Online journalists and bloggers and those outside the London-based, national newspaper establishment need to have their voices heard too. The haste with which this deal has been put together leaves too many unanswered questions. Journalists, especially those working under authoritarian regimes, are watching and hoping that their colleagues in Britain can find a better solution than regulation anchored in law. Mr. Cameron, we think that in the interests of global press freedom, you should allow them the opportunity to do so."

Neil Thackray on TheMediaBriefing: "So the victory for the press is not in seeing off statutory underpinning, but rather seeing the malaise in journalism for what it is. A poisonous infection of inanity and untruths that clouds the best of what journalism can do. Until or unless that is fixed, newspaper owners pleading for a free press is little more persuasive than the pimp arguing for sexual freedom."

Neil Wallis on the Huffington Post slams Liberty for not speaking up for journalists arrested in the UK:  "Liberty is, of course, like many such groups, largely left-of-centre in attitude and premise. Almost universally, they don't approve of mass media that is not broadsheet in presentation or pink of hue. You know, the papers and magazine most people choose NOT to buy. Some such left-wing organisations very often fight for freedoms for those it approves of, but are silent about those they consider less worthy."

Sun crime editor Mike Sullivan speaking to the BBC after Scotland Yard said no action will be taken against him following his arrest: "I am very pleased. It has been a long 14 months in many ways, but my delight at the news today is tempered by the fact that so many colleagues are still in the same situation. I hope they find some resolution."

Kelvin MacKenzie in his Telegraph column praises the Eastern Daily Press for winning a legal battle to name a councillor who was drunk in charge of a child: "Thank God for newspapers and thank God in particular for the Eastern Daily Press, its strong-willed editor, Nigel Pickover, and the company’s management who would have had to pick up the cheque if it had all gone horribly wrong."

Andrew Gilligan in the Sunday Telegraph: "Hacked Off did it by using all the red-top tricks they claim to hate – broad-brush condemnations, simplistic arguments, distorted facts, behind-the-scenes political deal making, celebrity stardust and the emotive deployment of victims."

New BBC director-general Tony Hall in an email to staff: "We are now winning back trust, something which will always be the most precious commodity for our organisation. We must never take it for granted."

Lord Melvyn Bragg, as reported by the Guardian, calls for a purge of BBC middle management:"The Savile crisis has exposed a dire structure and I think he [Tony Hall] should go in with a cleansing sword. It's not just individuals – it's the system...Savile exposed the problems with the middle management at the BBC, which clogs everything up. I speak as a great admirer of the BBC [but] it is amazing that they can get any programmes done at all." 

Eddie Mair in the Radio Times: "As for all the hullaballoo … for the record, I don't want Jeremy's job. Or John's. Or Andrew's. I like mine."

Freelance TV producer Nick Frost @nicholasfrost on Twitter: "Former Tory MP Edwina Currie says SHE could live on £53 a week. Asked her to talk to @5_news about it, she wanted 500 quid."

Marsh: The inside story on the 'sexed-up' dossier

Kevin Marsh who was editor of  the Today programme when it broadcast the Andrew Gilligan report on the "sexed-up dossier" on Iraq is publishing a book in September giving his view of the affair: ‘Stumbling Over Truth: The inside story of the 'sexed-up' dossier, Hutton and the BBC.’

The book will be the subject of a special Media Society, Westminster University and Biteback  debate on Monday, September 24, chaired by Steve Hewlett, which will explore the long term effects of Hutton on the BBC on the 10th anniversary of the ‘dodgy dossier’

As well as Marsh, speakers will include Peter Oborne, the Daily Telegraph's political commentator; Lance Price, former spin doctor to Tony Blair; Professor Steven Barnett, of Westminster University; and Professor Jean Seaton, of Westminster University, the official historian The BBC.

The debate starts at 18:00 for 18:30 at the University of Westminster, Regent Street W1. The event is free but you should register. Please contact Sam at sam_keegan@hotmail.com

Gilligan gets stuck into East End Life

Good spat on The Media Show on BBC Radio 4 today between Andrew Gilligan and Tower Hamlets councillor Joshua Peck, over the council's East End Life free "local newspaper".
Gilligan accused East End Life of trying to put the East London Advertiser out of business by carrying traditional local paper editorial such as tv listings, restaurant reviews and sport.
After Gilligan also accused East End Life of making false claims about the level of council tax in the borough, Peck said: "I am not taking any lessons on accuracy from Andrew Gilligan."
He told the programme it was the role of East End Life to "champion" the borough.
It seems Gilligan's highly critical piece on London's local council publications The Propaganda Newspapers in the Evening Standard has hit a nerve.

Gilligan on London's council 'newspapers'

Andrew Gilligan has in the Evening Standard turned his fire on London's local council newspaper-style publications in an article called The Propaganda Newspapers.
It is well worth a read and applies to many other parts of the country where council papers are seen as a growing threat to the local press.
Two parts of the article stand out.
Gilligan claims: "Across London, official council newspapers now employ around 120 people. When council press officers, who actually write much of the content of most papers, are included, the figure rises to 360. The total number of editorial staff on independent local newspapers in London, much-diminished after a series of cuts, is around 350."
He also quotes Tower Hamlets' head of commercial operations, Chris Payne, from a presentation in Sheffield , setting out the philosophy behind the newspaper-style publications.
Gilligan writes: "Many independent local papers, he (Payne) said, "churn out a negative diet of crime and grime, often attacking their local council and generally creating a negative impression". Council papers, by contrast, "help create a positive place-shaping agenda, talking up an area and its residents' achievements, celebrating diversity and opportunity for all".