Journalism progressed
Created | Updated Jun 20, 2003
Long live the Millennium! From watching the papers this week it is obvious that we have progressed to a new age of enlightenment. A golden dawn of understanding is upon us, let us rejoice in its arrival! Or something like that... In truth the events of the past week have left me with a rather bad taste in my mouth. Witness the 'Pack', in all its hellish glory, descend on the slightest bit of news in a frenzy of bye-lines and trash
articles, sensationalising every detail of a story without merit. It isn't just the tabloids who have been doing it (they could at least be excused on the grounds that sensationalism is a tough habit to break) but the broad-sheets have joined the foray in their attempts to discredit their victim.
Why have they focussed on such a non-event as a person being fined for fare evasion, an event that is common throughout London all the time? The fact that the person in question is the wife of the current Prime Minister seems to somehow make this story one of importance to national security, a rating which must mystify many people who do not hail from these waters. To many we must seem to rate the perceived crime of a woman running late above the perceived crime of one nation against another. Maybe they explain this by pointing out the appalling state of repair of our railways. To me it seems that the media intrusion into people's lives went too far a long time ago, and now it is just plain ridiculous. Focusing on the lives of 'icons' is a way of anaesthetising a nation from it's personal pain, a pain most don't want to face, and now don't have to. Braying over the fallen 'star' of the moment is just another way to assert
superiority without justification nor warrant.
If it were just the Press, then it could be said to be the result of a very slow week, but if we use that explanation then the Conservatives must have been having a slow week too. John Redwood (Shadow Spokesman on Transport) asked Cherie Booth to make a statement about what really happened on the grounds that one must be able to trust the words of a Crown Judge. Now if that ain't blowing everything out of proportion then I don't know what is.
For those outside the UK, Cherie Booth is the wife of current Prime Minister Tony Blair. She was caught this week by a 'Fare Evasion Officer', and made to pay the standard £10 fine to London Transport. She had a plausible excuse for this lapse, the ticket office being closed, and the ticket machine cleverly hidden from view. Never mind the fact that she is pregnant and was late to her debut on the Crown Judge circuit. Never mind the fact that the press have gone wild over this 'story'. I think the Ticket Inspector who caught her summed it up best:
'I nabbed her'.
