9 July 2007

Alastair Campbell’s pre-launch publicity blitz for The Blair Years was a text book example of the sleazy spin which so damaged the Blair government. Self-serving leaks to the newspapers whetted the appetite of reporters; broadcasters tripped over themselves in their rush to gain exclusive interviews; and barely any questions were asked about the ethics of how it was that a public servant could earn £1million by selling secrets gathered around the cabinet table.

But once the first, much-hyped extracts from his diaries appeared on his website even the spinmeister himself could not hide the truth: there, between the lines, was evidence of the way Campbell had driven a coach and horses through the code of conduct for politically-appointed temporary civil servants.

No wonder Gordon Brown promised in his statement on restoring trust to the political process (3.7.2007) that he would legislate to make sure that never again would a political appointee like Campbell be allowed to hold the power to give instructions to civil servants and get involved in the preparation and publication of intelligence information.

I have always admired Campbell’s ability to influence the news agenda and I acknowledge that the build-up to the publication of his diaries was masterful; I commend him too for his frankness, especially, for example, over his revelation in the book that in March 2003 all of Blair’s aides had "pretty severe moments of doubt" about Britain joining America’s attack on Iraq.

7 July 2007

There is much to be commended in Gordon Brown’s sweeping proposals for restoring trust in the process of government but when it comes to curbing the culture of spin which has become deeply ingrained in Whitehall and Westminster, meaningful commitments are few and far between.

At least Brown deserves personal credit for having kept his word and ensured that his most imaginative constitutional changes were not leaked in advance as tended to be the case with the contents of most of his Budgets in the ten years he was Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Advance trailing of announcements -- or in other words state-approved leaking -- is so institutionalised within government departments there needs to be root and branch revision of ministerial and civil service codes going far beyond anything which the new Prime Minister has so far suggested.

How Conservative bloggers are out in front in the blogsphere.

Speech by Nicholas Jones to Fondazione Farefuturo, Rome, 3 July 2007

For a political party in opposition, being ahead of the game in exploiting new forms of media might prove to be just as important in terms of fighting an election as devising an effective campaign message. It was the sure-footed way in which the Labour Party took advantage of the expansion in television news channels and programmes in the late 1980s and early 1990s which helped to propel Tony Blair to a landslide victory in the British general election of 1997.

Ten years later, despite three successive election defeats, it is activists in the Conservative Party who are dictating the pace in using websites and blogs to promote and debate the Tory agenda. Initially the bloggers did not get much help or even encouragement from the party leadership, but there is now a better appreciation of their potential to improve the electoral chances of David Cameron while at the same time making life uncomfortable for the Labour government. And, perhaps more significantly, it is definitely bloggers from the right rather than from the left who are managing to establish themselves as a new generation of political commentators and pundits. Their views are increasingly being sought by the traditional news media, such as newspapers, television and radio. Their websites have become instant sounding boards for political opinion and as a result they are closer to the party membership

By Nicholas Jones, 20 June 2007 

Tony Blair’s belated acknowledgement in his Reuters speech that the growing dominance of the internet and accelerating media convergence might require a new regulatory framework only serves to underline his government’s lamentable failure to protect public service broadcasting.

Through his unseemly courtship of media magnates such as Rupert Murdoch, which continued throughout his Premiership, Blair weakened the BBC and has bequeathed a media regime which could threaten one of the country’s greatest democratic safeguards.

News coverage of election campaigns is a classic British compromise: we have a free press and newspapers can be as unscrupulous as they like in promoting whichever party they choose. But coverage on television and radio cannot be politically partisan; there are clear rules requiring television and radio stations to ensure a balance in air time between the parties.

By Nicholas Jones, 10 May 2007

Whether you like him or loathe him, Tony Blair is a consummate communicator and for the Labour Party’s spin doctors he was always a joy to work with. Once the line was agreed, the Prime Minister rarely if ever deviated from the message which he had been asked to deliver. And again, while his speaking style might not suit all tastes, he is eloquent, he can be passionate, switching easily from anger to charm, and he can deftly bridge an awkward moment with a self-deprecating joke.

On becoming an MP in 1983, Blair’s all-too-evident political ambition marked him out at Westminster and not surprisingly his potential appeal to the electorate of middle England, first noticed by Peter Mandelson, was then ruthlessly exploited by Alastair Campbell. But no politician can live by spin alone. Political survival requires solid foundations and sustainable policies and the loss of respect and trust which tends to afflict most political leaders, started to accelerate in Blair’s case from 2001 after he signed up unquestioningly to American foreign policy in the wake of the 9/11 attack.

 By Nicholas Jones, 4 May 2007

The annual Unesco World Press Freedom Day debate at Portcullis House, Westminster, was a chance to explain why media freedom is under threat in the United Kingdom.

You might well ask: "How could a former BBC correspondent of thirty years standing, living in a country like the UK which is so rich in media output, possibly fear that there is any threat to the freedom of our journalists to investigate and report?" I make that case because while we are output rich, we are becoming increasingly content poor. Our news gathering, in its scope and depth, is nothing like as strong as it once was. And, I fear the trends we see here in the UK could be replicated around the world.

Just look at what has been happening: An ever greater concentration of media ownership; even greater cuts in editorial staff; media proprietors moving big time from newspapers to websites; journalists tied to their computer screens and telephones, with nothing like the freedom that I had in my career, to go out to gather information, to think about the news and report it. Instead those who have jobs are becoming the slaves of multi-task newsrooms, having to churn out endless versions of the same news stories, for audio, websites and print. The dearth of true local reporting is a terrible portent of what is to come.

Nicholas Jones, 2 May 2007 

While grave mistakes were undoubtedly made and many questions remain unanswered, the security service MI5 deserves to be commended on the manner in which it published a detailed account of one of the largest anti-terrorist surveillance operations in its history. On the completion of the Old Bailey trial at which five men were jailed for life, MI5 immediately released a dossier of data on its website. All sections of the news media -- and the rest of the world -- had simultaneous access to the same information.

One of the UK's most secretive organisations -- which over the years has leaked like a sieve to selected journalists -- was demonstrating that it is possible to ensure equal access and a level playing field for the media. Whatever the shortcomings in its account as to how the July 7 London bombers slipped through the net, MI5 reminded the government, on the day before Tony Blair celebrated a decade in power, that there are alternative communication strategies to the squalid and politically corrupt spin routines which have so besmirched the Labour administration.