Police and the Press
Sometimes it's nice to be proved right.
So it's with a suitably smug sense of satisfaction that I reproduce below - a previous post from 11 July 2011 - on the phone hacking scandal, the police and the press.
Last night the Metropolitian Police announced that one of their own officers - a police officer directly involved in the ongoing investigation - had been arrested for leaking details of the Scotland Yard inquiry to a national newspaper - allegedly the Guardian.
Now this raises some important issues - because the information being is 'stolen' information - just as it was when the Telegraph newspaper published details of MPs' expenses.
But the Telegraph's defence was a 'public interest defence' - that the House of Commons had no right to suppress or keep the information secret - and this protected the newspaper in the eyes of the law and professional code of the Press Complaints Commission.
In other words that - exceptionally - two wrongs did make a right because that was the only way to expose the scandal and the wrongdoing at the heart of the MPs' expenses scandal.
Yet that can hardly be said on this occasion - when an official police inquiry is underway - with people being arrested left, right and centre.
The newspaper/s involved - along with the police - have a lot of explaining to do and this story has legs, as they say - a long way to run.
Meantime I am going to bask in my own reflected glory for a while - and await further developments.
Leaking Like A Sieve - 11 July 2011
The police are now investigating the phone hacking allegations surrounding the News of the World (NOTW) - seriously this time - and even though NOTW has closed down.
So the long arm of the law is at long last doing its job properly - is the conclusion that the public are being invited to draw.
In which case what I want to know is - how come all these leaks to the press and media are still taking place?
How do certain newspapers and journalists get to know who is about to be arrested - or what supposedly confidential e-mails contain - if these details are not being handed out selectively by the police?
On the one hand we are being told that everyone is on their best behaviour - and everything is now above board - and is being done by the book.
Yet the evidence suggests otherwise - because no one but the police are privy to this information.
The cosy relationship between the police and certain journalists - appears to be alive and well - it's just that different newspapers and coppers are involved.
What other conclusion can be drawn from events over the weekend - when a major police investigation is leaking like a sieve.
So it's with a suitably smug sense of satisfaction that I reproduce below - a previous post from 11 July 2011 - on the phone hacking scandal, the police and the press.
Last night the Metropolitian Police announced that one of their own officers - a police officer directly involved in the ongoing investigation - had been arrested for leaking details of the Scotland Yard inquiry to a national newspaper - allegedly the Guardian.
Now this raises some important issues - because the information being is 'stolen' information - just as it was when the Telegraph newspaper published details of MPs' expenses.
But the Telegraph's defence was a 'public interest defence' - that the House of Commons had no right to suppress or keep the information secret - and this protected the newspaper in the eyes of the law and professional code of the Press Complaints Commission.
In other words that - exceptionally - two wrongs did make a right because that was the only way to expose the scandal and the wrongdoing at the heart of the MPs' expenses scandal.
Yet that can hardly be said on this occasion - when an official police inquiry is underway - with people being arrested left, right and centre.
The newspaper/s involved - along with the police - have a lot of explaining to do and this story has legs, as they say - a long way to run.
Meantime I am going to bask in my own reflected glory for a while - and await further developments.
Leaking Like A Sieve - 11 July 2011
The police are now investigating the phone hacking allegations surrounding the News of the World (NOTW) - seriously this time - and even though NOTW has closed down.
So the long arm of the law is at long last doing its job properly - is the conclusion that the public are being invited to draw.
In which case what I want to know is - how come all these leaks to the press and media are still taking place?
How do certain newspapers and journalists get to know who is about to be arrested - or what supposedly confidential e-mails contain - if these details are not being handed out selectively by the police?
On the one hand we are being told that everyone is on their best behaviour - and everything is now above board - and is being done by the book.
Yet the evidence suggests otherwise - because no one but the police are privy to this information.
The cosy relationship between the police and certain journalists - appears to be alive and well - it's just that different newspapers and coppers are involved.
What other conclusion can be drawn from events over the weekend - when a major police investigation is leaking like a sieve.
