Bloggers and the press

Charles Clarke pleads for understanding

[…] I believe that a pernicious and even dangerous poison is now slipping into at least some parts of this media view of the world. In the absence of many of the genuinely dangerous and evil totalitarian dictatorships to fight – since they’ve gone – the media has steadily rhetorically transferred to some of the existing democracies, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom, some of the characteristics of those dictatorships.

…

As these descriptions and language are used, the truth just flies out of the window…

One recent example of this was the articles of Henry Porter which have stimulated the e-mail exchange between him and Tony Blair in yesterday’s ‘Observer’.

Another is Simon Carr’s article in the ‘Independent’ on April 15th which lists 34 ‘measures and effects’ which in his opinion mean that in this country we no longer live in a liberal and democratic society. Many of these assertions are frequently accepted as fact by media commentators. I have replied to him pointing to his numerous and unprofessional misleading statements as well as the many errors of fact. A copy of my reply is on the Home Office website. […]

In the reply, you will note that, of the 34 statements, Mr Clarke states that 17 are TRUE or CORRECT. Only 6 are “wrong”. The remainder are subjective judgements and interpretations.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 25th, 2006 at 12:42 pm and is filed under In.