The Press and the Establishment. Part Five.

Part Five of The Press and the Establishment.

Having explained my reasons for starting to think about the establishment and a person's titles I will now explain my thinking about "The Press"

When I wrote to the editors of eight national newspapers to complain about the Press Complaints Commission [PCC] I stated that I had a complete belief in the need for Press Freedom, this partially garnered by living in a country where for many years the press was not completely free.

As well as being totally in favour [national security excepted] of a free press I was also totally against the unbridled "power of the press".

I suggested that legislation be passed to make it easier for the public to complain about an article in any newspaper or magazine. The suggestion follows, there is nothing to stop a publication from implementing the suggestion without the need for legislation. The thought has just surfaced that the PCC could require publications to do what I suggest, that would show where their loyalties reside as well as boosting and supporting their self enhancing claim that self regulation of the press really works.

On page three of a newspaper or magazine something similar to the following is printed. "If any reader has a complaint about anything published in this paper they may write a letter to us, of no more than sixty words, addresses will not be word counted. If your letter is the only one dealing with a particular matter it will be published on page three over your name. If there is more than one letter complaining about the same matter one of them will be published, over the name of the writer. The total number of similar letters will be stated and the names only of the writers will be published.

One of the things that I find annoying is when an attention grabbing headline, in very large print, appears to be stating a fact, however when the much smaller print is read it is clear that the headline is anything but a fact.

Surely, I think , the time has come to take a long hard look at the potential worry and harm to people,s feelings caused by crude, degrading, obnoxious and insulting articles and cartoons published in papers and magazines. Please do not point out to me that such things have been common for, a hundred, even hundreds of years, that should not make them any more acceptable. With the aid of the IT world the headlines of a national paper can be seen by
many millions of people throughout the world within minutes of them being printed. The small print that clarifies the accuracy of the headline may not even be shown.

My next blog will outline some points and suggestions I wish to make about the Press Complaints Commission.

Frederick W Gilling Wednesday 04 November 2009