Poacher Turned Gamekeeper
David Aaronovitch makes a fair point in his Times column that the 'Hacked Off' campaigners have become a parody of themselves with their calls for a Government minister, John Whittingdale, to resign over 'revelations' in the new media about his private life.
Hacked Off was originally founded to campaign against unwarranted media intrusion into people's private lives, but has now taken on the role of throwing the first stone even when there is no evidence of the person concerned doing anything wrong, never mind criminal.
The fact that John Whittingdale is a Conservative politician ought to make no difference to Hacked Off, yet clearly it has and the campaign group should be thoroughly ashamed of its behaviour.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/hacked-off-argue-themselves-into-the-gutter-b2fmfvn92
Hacked Off argue themselves into the gutter
By David aaronovitch - The Times
The hypocrisy of the press-regulation lobby has been exposed in their absurd complaints about John Whittingdale
There can be no more slippery word in the public affairs lexicon than “perception”. Yesterday the shadow culture secretary Maria Eagle was asked on Radio 4’s World At One why she wanted the culture secretary to excuse himself from any future decisions on press regulation. Ms Eagle cited “perceptions”. But was there any actual evidence that Mr Whittingdale had been or was now subject to any undue influence because of stories about his private life? Ms Eagle could think of none at all, replying instead: “Evidence matters more, but perceptions do matter . . .”
Whose perceptions? She did not say. How many perceptions add up to a fact? Four, sixty, a million? She was not asked.
Hacked Off was originally founded to campaign against unwarranted media intrusion into people's private lives, but has now taken on the role of throwing the first stone even when there is no evidence of the person concerned doing anything wrong, never mind criminal.
The fact that John Whittingdale is a Conservative politician ought to make no difference to Hacked Off, yet clearly it has and the campaign group should be thoroughly ashamed of its behaviour.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/hacked-off-argue-themselves-into-the-gutter-b2fmfvn92
Hacked Off argue themselves into the gutter
By David aaronovitch - The Times
The hypocrisy of the press-regulation lobby has been exposed in their absurd complaints about John Whittingdale
There can be no more slippery word in the public affairs lexicon than “perception”. Yesterday the shadow culture secretary Maria Eagle was asked on Radio 4’s World At One why she wanted the culture secretary to excuse himself from any future decisions on press regulation. Ms Eagle cited “perceptions”. But was there any actual evidence that Mr Whittingdale had been or was now subject to any undue influence because of stories about his private life? Ms Eagle could think of none at all, replying instead: “Evidence matters more, but perceptions do matter . . .”
Whose perceptions? She did not say. How many perceptions add up to a fact? Four, sixty, a million? She was not asked.
