As an ex-journalist with some experience of the tabloid universe, the recent phone-hacking revelations are hardly surprising. Over ten years ago I recall one tabloid which had ‘proud’ access to a celebrity’s email account. The email account had been hacked via a reputable private investigator.
The paper sat on the email account until something newsworthy came along. When it did, the paper ran a story about how the celebrity was having an affair with the wife of a well-known sports man. End of marriage.
The same paper and its competitors were also known for running fictional stories. These ranged from a man who had fallen from riches to rags and who as a result was living under a bridge on the Thames eating dead dogs to survive, to reporters posing as hit men.
The editor loved the dog story, but to make it stand up wanted a picture of the ‘tragic’ figure chowing his way through the hind leg of a deceased dog. Unfortunately for the editor, but fortunately for the mutt, the reporters didn’t have the heart to kill the hound they had just prised away from a canine home.
These and other similar stories were concocted by reporters keen to make a name and thrust themselves up the editorial ladder. But they were in the minority and not all the reporters behaved in such an immoral and disingenuous manner.
And so it goes with the News of the World too. Phone hacking has been rife for a long time, alongside other dubious practices, and it’s about time that what can only be described as ‘vile’ practises are brought out of the dark and into the light.
What much of the coverage around the phone hacking doesn’t point out is the intense pressure reporters are often under to come up with the goods. A reporter is only as good as his or her last byline article. And bylines are the currency of a reporter’s career.
This isn’t a justification for the sordidly sleazy antics that have been exposed. But the reporter responds to pressure from peers and the news editor, who in turn is driven by the editor. And the editor is often bowing to pressure from the publisher or owner.
So let’s not tar all reporters with the same brush. My own view is that tabloids are what they are. If you don’t like them, don’t read them. Personally, I admire the tabloids from a professional and technical point of view. I read some stories and see how a bit of creative thinking, awareness of the zeitgeist and a few phone calls result in a story. It’s an art and a skill.
And let’s not forget some of the tabloids are staffed by the brightest people, particularly the sub-editor’s bench which can include a rake of PhD qualified people.
But if there’s one thing to be taken from the News of World exposé, it is that the pressure comes from the top and then cascades down. If we want to call a halt to the moral transgressions, then that is where the pressure should be applied.
And it seems to be this that has provided the punch for an historic all-party and public assault on News International.