Trevor Kavanagh Turns The Soar Away Sun Into Something Bitter And Twisted
CAN the feel good Soar Away Sun move on from The News of The World scandal? The two papers used to be rivals in the same Rupert Murdoch stable, competing for scoops. Some Sun hacks might even be pleased that the NoTW is dead
So. What do we make of the Sun’s @Sun politics Twitter feed? A Tweet on it says:
“Ed Miliband, Guardian and BBC how proud you must be of your work this week.”
No word on James Murdoch, Rebekah Brooks nor the bullying culture that created an environment where it was OK, allegedly, to hack into the voicemail of murdered teenager Milly Dowler. (No word on the government that infringes on our civil liberties and harvests data on us all. Who trained the NoTW’s snoops? GCHQ? The police?)
One hour later, the tweet was gone and this message appeared:.
not authorised, and not the paper or its political team’s opinion.
Now get a load of Trevor Kavanagh – the Sun’s former political editor – writing in the Sun:
It was a tragedy for journalism – and an open goal for our commercial rivals. In the dog-eat-dog world of newspapers, this was as much about their survival as our sister paper’s.
Agreed. Newspapers are dying. Only one of the Guardian and Independent can survive. Who goes next?
We also offered a priceless opening to Ed Miliband, a weak leader who seized his chance to turn on a newspaper group that supported his party through most of its 13 years in power.
Agreed.
Politics is about opportunism, and if he can’t squeeze capital out of this catastrophe at David Cameron’s expense, then he’s no politician at all.
Got that? Miliband might be weak and a stop-gap Labour leader, but this about him not Cameron, who appointed former NoTW editor Andy Coulson as his spin doctor.
What is thoroughly contemptible, though, is the posturing, high-minded and politically prejudiced BBC. This media monster, which blows £2.3BILLION a year in public money, is bound by charter to be impartial and is anything but.
No. What is completely contemptible is hacking in a dead girl’s phone, removing message and giving her parents and loved ones hope that she was alive. The BBC is biased… we already knew that.
…Don’t get me wrong. Nobody can justify or condone the crimes committed by former News of the World staff. They deserve the coverage they have received. Indeed, we are warned by our chief executive Rebekah Brooks that worse is to come.
And STILL chief executive. Sharon Shoesmith and John Terry might think it a bit rich what while Brooks and her organs called for them to step down as a leader at Haringey Council and captain of England, respectively, she avoids the buck passing.
Kavanagh adds:
Nothing other than a declaration of war would justify its round-the-clock analysis, interviews and breaking news on every radio, TV and internet outlet. All other news – and there was a lot of it around last week – was relegated to “fillers” between breathless, screeching “updates” from correspondents.
Every organ picks its own stories. Every organ sets its own agenda. The Sun screamed for Sharon Shoesmith and social works on the Baby P case to be sacked. Other organs were more circumspect.
He ends:
This column might seem like the work of a Murdoch mouthpiece.
Yep. It does.
Posted: 14th, July 2011 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
