Comments on: The Sun’s Dirty Phone Call http://www.charliebeckett.org/?p=2094 Charlie Beckett comments on international journalism, media and society Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:23:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Gary Naylor http://www.charliebeckett.org/?p=2094&cpage=1#comment-16139 Gary Naylor Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:46:56 +0000 http://www.charliebeckett.org/?p=2094#comment-16139 Nobody can speak properly on the telephone if they know the call is recorded for hostile purposes - don't believe me? Try it. Do we really want politicians who never say anything worth hearing, who have never made a spelling error (even in such sensitive circumstances), speak the sweet-nothings of focus-grouped PR speak? Journalism has a responsibility to democracy - if it constantly pursues the personal, where is the politics? (Okay - this story has more of a political dimension than most, but releasing personal conversations without permission is shoddy short-cut journalism). Nobody can speak properly on the telephone if they know the call is recorded for hostile purposes – don’t believe me? Try it.

Do we really want politicians who never say anything worth hearing, who have never made a spelling error (even in such sensitive circumstances), speak the sweet-nothings of focus-grouped PR speak?

Journalism has a responsibility to democracy – if it constantly pursues the personal, where is the politics? (Okay – this story has more of a political dimension than most, but releasing personal conversations without permission is shoddy short-cut journalism).

]]>