Wednesday, October 17, 2007

CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE?


WHY has the media failed to expose the evil cabal?

Why have they largely ignored the corruption and wrong-doing at Henshaw's city council, despite the current council leader handing a secret dossier last year to the chief constable?

Why have the media been largely silent on the waste of millions of pounds in public money by the current city council and the Culture Company?

Is the answer to any of these questions explained by the ownership of the media?

("You might think that, but I couldn't possibly comment," Francis Urquhart)

That's what members of the National Union Of Journalists think anyway.

And it's what many in Liverpool think when they see the cosy deals being done between unholyTrinity Mirror and the Culture Comedians and the local media's failure to hold the Harbarrowboy to account.

Any chance that commercial considerations could be interfering with editorial integrity?
Journalists are today reduced to a cross between call-centre workers and data processors. Stuck at their desks re-jigging press releases. Who knows what corruption, lies, and law-breaking is going on in the corridors of power – no-one has the time to look. Or is even encouraged to delve a little deeper.
Except the occasional brave blogger...

Members of the NUJ descend on Manchester on November 5 to urge their bosses to stand up to greedy media owners.
The NUJ is organising a lobby of the Society of Editors conference at the swanky Radisson Hotel on Peter Street, Manchester.
Union president Michelle Stanistreet said: “The media is owned by a smaller and smaller group of extremely wealthy corporations.
“They make big profits but they want more. So journalists face a constant round of job cuts and dwindling editorial budgets. This means that more and more news is just recycled press releases.
“We want our editors to join with us and stand up to the culture of cuts. If they believe that journalism is important for democracy and for local communities they must take a stand.
“They are meeting on a site that was developed to commemorate the Peterloo massacre. We hope they will take courage from history and seize the moment.”
The Manchester event is one of the focul points of Stand Up For Journalism Day which will involve events all over Europe.
There will be lobbies at the European Parliament and in towns and cities across the UK and Ireland.
In Manchester journalists and their supporters will gather outside the offices of the Manchester Evening News on Hardman Street, off Deansgate at 12.30pm on November 5.
They will march to the Radisson Hotel, on the site of the old Free Trade Hall, to lobby the editors’ conference. There will be a rally in defence of journalism at 1.30pm in the Friends Meeting House on Mount Street.
Michelle Stanistreet and NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear will be among the speakers. For furtherinformation visit http://www.standupforjournalism.org.uk/

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I might actually start buying these rags again if they started to report properly instead of being a load of w@^£&%$