Tag Archives: daily mail

Journalists v Journalists: Daily Mail suing Byline

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Is the Daily Mail the enemy of  new kids on the block?

CROSS POSTED ON BYLINE.COM

Imagine a world where every week different newspapers – who disliked each other – decided to sue  every time they felt they had been wronged.

Given the nature of the defamation laws, the law courts would be stuffed with cases and the legal profession would make a mint.

That’s why it is extremely rare – if not unprecedented – to see a ” dog eat dog ” mentality among different sections of the media. And that is why I am extremely puzzled that Paul Dacre has decided to use his mighty power and resources to try and crush a\ new kid on the block, Byline. com.

I have not examined in any detail the issues between them so I am not going to comment on the merits of the respective cases in advance of a potential libel case. If you want to see the stories you can look on byline.com. Suffice to say I use Byline as a platform for my own blog but I am not employed by them in any shape or form.

I am going to comment on the principle of the issue of journalists suing journalists and put forward my tuppence worth on why I think this is happening.

Paul Dacre’s threat to sue contains one remarkable passage you normally don’t find in lawyer’s letters and it is rather a defensive one. It says

“Our clients have instructed us to write this formal Letter of Claim with the utmost reluctance because they believe passionately in freedom of expression and fully respect your rights as journalists to examine these issues. However the inaccuracies in the articles complained of… are so serious and defamatory that they feel they have no option but to defend their rights.”
“As we explain above, our clients are passionately committed to press freedom and the principles underpinning the importance of preserving an unfettered and independent news media and we emphasise again that they fully respect your right to write about these matters. Notwithstanding this, they cannot reasonably allow false and seriously defamatory statements about them to remain online.”

I am curious that if it was so serious there appears to be no attempt to get them corrected before moving to such Draconian measures. The inference from the suit is that the whole matter has been made up from start to finish – even though as a  connoisseur  myself in finding obscure documents  there does appear  to be documentary evidence around.

What really concerns me however is whether there is another agenda. At present mainstream media is in a state of flux – and facing enormous pressure – not only from Google and Facebook – but from new start ups that challenge traditional print media.

Ironically the Mail has weathered the storm much better than other outlets but nevertheless the internet has provided the platform for anybody to set up a journalism site. and some people are now choosing to follow events through the prism of these new sites.

This is a fledgling development – and the temptation of the big boys must be either to stamp  it out or buy it out. Instead they should welcome the diversity and the challenge. There was in some quarters a similar attitude towards the investigative  news site  Exaro – even down to the Mail suggesting it wasn’t staffed by real journalists – when they knew full well it contained a mix of people – experienced in working for tabloids like the News of the World and broadsheets like the Guardian.

In my view the big boys are making a mistake in this case – already it has led to Byline raising money from the general public  ( you can donate by going to the site) – to fight what is perceived as a Goliath trying to stifle investigations they do not like.

I am old enough to remember when Tony Elliott in 1968 set up Time Out – while a student at Keele University – because he had a great idea that the swinging sixties generation wanted to know the best venues for new gigs and the mainstream media didn’t want to know. The first issue cost £70 and was produced in his mother’s kitchen. This year he will be honoured at the British Media Awards with an Outstanding Contribution Award to journalism.

Byline.com with its first festival this year reminds me of the enthusiasm and determination another generation of innovators who are looking for new ways to communicate and new ways to fund their work. This is at a time when investigative journalism badly needs a boost – and the mainstream media seem to be pretty selective about what they investigate.

So to try and stifle innovators with heavy handed legal writs will only encourage people to fight back and could well backfire.Paul Dacre should be careful what he wants from this action.

 

 

 

The Media’s Attack on Corbyn: Research Shows Barrage of Negative Coverage – Media Reform Coalition

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This factual analysis shows what everybody suspected – there has been an unrelenting media attack on Jeremy Corbyn in the media since he was elected.It is by a press dominated by unelected multi millionaire owners. This is chilling for democratic debate. The scale of the bias is staggering, particularly in the news coverage.

Inforrm's Blog

corbyn_coverage-360x222New research by the Media Reform Coalition shows how large sections of the press appeared to set out systematically to undermine Jeremy Corbyn in his first week as Labour Leader with a barrage of overwhelmingly negative coverage.

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Hating Britain with the Daily Mail: A song medley

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It is a Saturday night and the row over the Daily Mail, Ed Miliband and now Mehdi Hasan continues unabated. Here is a collection of anti Daily Mail songs. Who says satire is dead in Britain.The one below is bv Peter Bickerton The Daily Mail Song (a daily dose of hate).

I have just been sent by @BBCRadioForum another song by Amanda Palmer at the Roundhouse. Dear Daily Mail. Avert your eyes Paul Dacre, Ed Miliband and perhaps Mrs Angry from Barnet, this is a bit risque and contains female nudity.

And now Steve White has added his own song based on a Daily Mail story of an Ecstasy Death Girl. You can both listen to it and download it free here.
From Beastrabban Weblog here is a Chris Cohen number on the Daily Mail in 2009.

Finally so far – for those with long memories- here is a song from Irish band Blackthorn- on the Daily Mail’s 1920s coverage about another Sinn Fein rising. Some joker suggests they reported it from Holyhead, don’t know whether it is true.

Some And for those interested in more see Mike Sivier’s Vox Political website for ” You Hate Britain” by Mitch Benn which name checks Paul Dacre. I hope Paul Dacre has a sense of humour. Tom Baldwin, Labour’s chief media spokesman, tells me that a medley of these songs will be played at next year’s Labour Party Conference before the singing of the Red ” Ed” Flag.

The Mail maketh Miliband

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A loving father and son: Ed and Ralph Miliband.

A loving father and son: Ed and Ralph Miliband.

The Daily Mail has achieved something that Labour activists could only dream about. Their ill-judged headline on Ed Miliband’s dad, Ralph Miliband, for hating Britain has enabled the Labour leader, to turn a potential weakness into a great strength.
For all his abilities one of Miliband’s great problems in presenting his image to the great British public is that he appears to be a geek. He is the sort of guy that you might think is too bookish and too engrossed in detail (penalty for being an ex special adviser to Gordon Brown) to be a natural born Prime Minister.
But in one fell swoop Paul Dacre has turned a geek into someone who practically the entire nation can empathise and understand. He has made him all too human.
What person in Britain does not understand the natural love to defend one’s dad -particularly if he can’t answer back beyond the grave. What person doesn’t know the natural love between father and son – even if they disagree over politics and football teams.
The Mail’s mess has allowed Miliband to transcend party politics and for people who don’t take any interest in political matters – to remember one thing , he is the sort of guy who stands up for his dad.
I am sure Ed Miliband never would have wanted this in the first place – and certainly wouldn’t even think of exploiting it politically. But the result is that Paul Dacre has achieved the exact opposite of what he wanted and it serves him right.
One can scarcely believe the ineptitude of the next event. The Mail on Sunday is caught going to a private memorial service for Ed Miliband’s uncle to gather more dirt on Ralph Miliband.
What editor would be daft enough a- a week before the highly sensitive decision on a successor to the Press Complaints Commission – to allow his paper to engage in activities that the general public would find distasteful and abhorrent. No wonder apologies were offered – but the probable effect – unless Cameron is completely foolhardy – is that the alternative regime to Leveson is now dead in the water.
Even though this is not directly about press regulation – it will be seen that papers have not learned any lessons.
And with the potential for more striking revelations at the end of the month when the trial of Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson starts over the phone hacking scandal, the situation for an embattled media can only get worse.