i know i’m a journalist as well, but seriously ….

perspective

in The Times, i believe.

a few honest words from an insignificant, hopefully almost invisible, below the radar News Limited journalist on the News of the World hacking scandal

i’m really tired of being silent on this issue. personally, i don’t think what i’m about to say should present any kind of threat or surprise to my bosses, but if it does to the point that they feel like kicking me up the bracket for it … well, so be it. i’ll take that bracket-kicking. it’ll be worth it just to get these thoughts out there.

i am a run-of-the-mill, under-the-radar, hard-working honest journalist on a regional daily newspaper owned by News Limited here in Australia. it won’t take you too much digging around to figure out which one, given i link to it all the time.

i don’t know one colleague in our newsroom who thinks the actions of the News of the World are anything less than repugnant and offensive.

i don’t know one colleague in our newsroom who would for one moment consider similar actions in order to get a story.

i am sick to my back teeth of being tarred with the same brush as the News of the World and its actions, simply because we are owned by the same corporation.

i am sick, frankly, of being considered similar to even my News Limited colleagues in the big metropolitan daily papers in this country.

Not because i think those papers are behaving in NotW-like fashion — far from it — but because the differences between regional and daily newspapers in terms of resources and ethos are chalk and cheese.

saying we are all the same is a false argument.

the newsroom i work in is small by any standard other than regional weeklies and freebies. it used to be a lot bigger. but News Limited’s way of satisfying its fiduciary responsibilities to its shareholders is to maximise profit while minimising costs. i can’t argue with that, regardless of how hard it makes my job.

the journalists in our newsroom are, for the most part, young, keen, green and on the steepest learning curve imaginable. they are also idealistic and, enthusiastic and, without fail, well-meaning. they would no more consider unethical practices than i would consider entering Miss Universe.

i’m tired of the huddled masses hating my profession on reflex. people are quick to forget the good stories, the community-minded stories, the well-written stories, the worthy stories. people are quick to label us biased, with an agenda. believe it or not, with the exception of a planned campaign on, say, wiping out crime on our city’s streets, or exposing an incompetent city council, agendas just never come into it. we don’t have the time, or the resources.

none of it is true, at least in my 23-year experience as a News Limited journalist. when i started at my paper we weren’t even part of News Limited.

we’re just a bunch of workers, trying to do our job, in a frankly under-resourced, over-pressured environment that makes me break out in hives on a daily basis.

i’m not saying that there isn’t corruption somewhere in the Australian mastheads of News Limited. i wouldn’t know where or when. but i know that the vast majority of our journalists, editors and managing directors are honest, hard-working, talented people who get tired of the abuse.

I AM NOT A SCUMBAG, I AM A HUMAN BEING WHOSE ONLY MISTAKE WAS TO CHOOSE A CAREER ONLY A MOTHER COULD LOVE. APPARENTLY.

News of the World editor’s last speech to his staff

front pages on News of The World closing

hilarious, coming from the shameless Daily Mail.

not her most flattering angle.

Rather subdued for The Sun, i thought. Then again, they are about to launch The Sun on Sunday (NotW by another name), so no wonder.

oh ho. not quite sure i see the point of a 45-yr-old pic of Uncle Rupe, but there ya go.

my personal favourite. cracker.

Former NOTW executive recounts phone hacking

Paul McMullen, a man under extreme pressure, gives an amazing eye-opening interview to ABC 24. Well worth watching.

the latest on the News of the World thing …

… again, I make no comment. This from the Press Association:

LONDON, July 9 PA – Rupert Murdoch was expected to fly into London on Saturday to confront the growing News Corporation crisis amid calls for the immediate appointment of a judge to head an inquiry into the phone hacking scandal.

The chairman’s anticipated intervention follows reports that millions of emails from an internal archive at News International may have been destroyed in what could be seen as a bid to obstruct Scotland Yard’s inquiry.

In a letter to the prime minister, shadow culture secretary Ivan Lewis said there should be immediate cross-party discussions with a judge being put in place on Saturday.

“In view of the fact that the News of the World is shutting down, it is a matter of great urgency that any documentary evidence, including files and emails, is preserved to enable a proper inquiry into these serious allegations to take place,” he told David Cameron.

The letter, which stated that the inquiry’s terms of reference should be agreed with the judge “as soon as practicably possible”, comes as the latest person held by police in the growing controversy was released on bail.

The 63-year-old man, arrested in Surrey on Friday night in connection with alleged corrupt payments made to police officers, was ordered to return to a London police station in October. Police would not confirm reports that he is a private investigator.

News of the World editor Andy Coulson has also been released on bail following nine hours of questioning over suspected corruption and the phone hacking scandal that forced the 168-year-old newspaper to close.

As Coulson, 43, of Forest Hill, southeast London, left Lewisham police station on Friday, he said: “There is an awful lot I would like to say, but I can’t at this time.”

The Sunday tabloid’s ex-royal editor Clive Goodman, 53, has also spoken to police over claims officers were bribed following a dawn swoop on his Surrey home.

As the crisis at Murdoch’s empire deepened, Cameron pledged “no stone would be left unturned,” announcing details of two inquiries.

His words followed a report in The Guardian that Scotland Yard was probing claims that a member of staff at News International deleted a host of emails on two occasions at the end of January.

Scotland Yard refused to comment on the allegations, and a News International spokeswoman said: “This assertion is rubbish. We adopted a documented email retention policy in line with our US parent’s records management policy. We are co-operating actively with police and have not destroyed evidence.”

Now go spend some money on your local paper so at least some journalists can be kept in some work, eh?

the late, great Dennis Potter on Rupert Murdoch, circa 1994

i make no editorial comment whatsoever.

with thanks to tweeter NickMotown.

nothing funny about this … my latest blog over at goldcoast.com.au

my latest over at goldcoast.com.au:

YOUNG Gold Coast wannabe stand-up comedian Jordan Paris sparked a debate this week that went viral thanks to his alleged copying of another comic’s routine for his Australia’s Got Talent performance.

Some commenters said ‘oh so what, funny is funny’ — or a variant of it.

With all due respect, those people have completely missed the point.

Some said other performers on AGT sing cover versions of other peoples’ songs so why shouldn’t comics like Mr Paris ‘cover’ other comedians’ material.

The answer is intellectual property rights, or in simpler terms — a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. Or even, credit where it’s due.

When an author writes a book and it is published, that author gets paid royalties for every copy that is sold. It’s usually between 10 and 13 per cent of the cover price.

When a songwriter writes a song and it is published, every time someone else plays that song — including radio stations — a fee must be paid to the songwriter.

When an amateur theatre group wants to put on a production of a play or musical that is still under copyright — say, Wicked — then that group must pay ‘performance rights’.

When an actor’s television show goes in to reruns, every time an episode in which he or she appears is replayed that actor gets paid ‘residuals’.

The same goes for comedians, who, if they aren’t writing their own material, are paying hard-earned money to someone to write them.

What Mr Paris did on Australia’s Got Talent was take money out of Lee Mack’s pocket. Money he is entitled to as the ‘creator’ of the material.

What Mr Paris did, in my opinion, is as heinous as a journalist copying another journalist’s material and claiming it as their own. And we all know the outrage when that kind of thing happens. Just take in an episode of Media Watch if you don’t believe me.

Royalties, residuals, performance rights _ whatever form these payments take _ are the only things that keep artists, musicians, writers, painters, actors, comedians, filmmakers and the rest of the creative arts in food and shelter.

You’ll gather this is close to my heart.

Copyright and intellectual property are huge issues in the media industry right now, because the internet has created massive changes to the way you, the reader, consumes news.

When you switch on your computer, go to Google, and click on ‘News’, you will be presented with a long list of links to news articles from multiple sources around the world.

Google, and other sites like it, are what is known as an `aggregator’. They collect together related links to news events and present them to you for free.

Do they pay for the ‘rights’ to those stories? No, they do not.

Is that fair to the journalists, subeditors, photographersa and designers who work to put that story together? I don’t believe so.

Does it present a danger to the future employment of journalists? Absolutely.

Mr Paris’ transgression is a small thing in the scheme of things, but it’s an indication that as a society we are becoming dangerously accustomed to not paying ‘creators’ for the sweat of their brow.

And what’s more, we seem to believe that having access to that ‘product’ is a right for which we shouldn’t have to pay.

And that is a slippery slope to a world where journalists are in short supply (and the truth along with that) and creative artists continue to starve in their garrets.

newspaper editors dream of front pages like this one …

courtesy of the HuffPo.