Tag: Joanna Yeates

Phone hacking is only part of the story

News of the World final edition after phone hacking in 2011
The cover of the last edition of today’s NotW

Anyone who’s worked in a newsroom understands the uncomfortable situations journalists sometimes face when pursuing a story.

A very good example of this – which I experienced – is the ‘death knock’, where reporters are sent to interview a family struck by tragedy.

Often, the best stories result from such endeavors. And they have shifted many millions of copies of newspapers over the years. But they can also be painful for all concerned.

I visited the family of Michael Hodder, who was the train driver involved in the Paddington train crash in October 1999, whilst working on a local paper in his home town of Reading.

Six months into the job, I got nowhere that day; Sky and the The Sun were already there. Reporters met a furious and very upset man who chased them down the street.

We had been tipped off about Hodder’s Reading connection by someone who worked in the office who knew his family. It often happens that way. But I also remember the police bemusemet at how quickly a group of tabloid reporters had turned up following the same lead. Who had given it to them?

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Spokesman becomes the story some would rather ignore

I wrote recently on the media’s reluctance to report on its own misdeeds. This position became impossible following its deeply irresponsible coverage of the Joanna Yeates murder investigation.

And so it is with yesterday’s resignation of Number 10’s former director of communications Andy Coulson, who quit amidst continuing allegations over his role in the phone hacking controversy at the News of the World.

In doing so, he sparked one of the stories of the year. It refuses to go away and his former employers at News International would much rather downplay it.

For evidence of this, look at the coverage that followed yesterday’s announcement. The Guardian, who pursues this story with an almost obsessive zeal, went to town on it again yesterday. They published a mountain of analysis and questions about the police, governance at News International and David Cameron’s judgement.

The coverage on the website of News International sister paper The Sun, however, is much less critical.

You can see Mr Coulson’s statement, issued yesterday, in full here.

Media turns fire on itself over reporting of Bristol case

Concerns surrounding some media reporting of Joanna Yeates’ murder in Bristol have become more public since I blogged about it a couple of days ago.

It emerged yesterday that Avon and Somerset Police took the rare step of banning ITV News from its morning press briefing because it ran a story that the force thought unfairly criticised its investigation. It lifted the ban, and the report did not undermine potential legal proceedings (as other reports did).

But it’s a measure of the tension around these events become. And it illustrates how the media risks misjudging the balance between reporting freely (which should always be allowed) and irresponsibly.

Meanwhile, the Bristol Evening Post’s splash yesterday reported how media organisations were written to by suspect Christopher Jefferies’ lawyers and warned of their probing into, and reporting of, their client’s life. The high number of reader comments underneath the story demonstrate the strength of feeling and interest there is locally about the case.

When I worked in newspapers, it was clear that you did not write stories about the antics of fellow journalists; the public was ‘not interested’ in such introspection. When the news media does report on itself, you can be sure that something is seriously amiss, as Roy Greenslade points out here.

Shameful media coverage risks more than contempt

Bristol was at the centre of a story that gripped the country over Christmas, following Joanna Yeates’ disappearance and murder.

Inevitably, some coverage resulting from the arrest of suspect Christopher Jefferies raised concerns that the media could undermine the investigation.

This will be all too familiar to those who understand how crime is reported in this country.

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