Friday, January 13, 2012

#Leveson : The #Guardian -Smug - Arrogant And Subject To Special Treatment

Quote

It must be so delightful being a Guardian journalist. Always being right. Always being morally superior.

They have undoubtedly broken some fantastic, important stories, such as Trafigura, the Wiki-leaks cable dump, and phone hacking, but this in turn has had the effect of lacing their material with a dose of arrogance; an air of the untouchable. Too often, the Guardian themselves try to be the story - look at the books from Guardian hacks about Wiki-leaks, for example.

This is a dangerous mind-set to have for any organisation whose role is meant to be questioning those in power. 

All newspapers try to write eye catching, agenda setting stories; that is how they sell papers and survive. However, there is a smugness about Guardian journalists; an unchallengeable assertion that their angle is the right, and only acceptable one that leaves a slightly more bitter taste in the mouth than others. Just follow a few of them on Twitter if you don’t believe me. You’ll soon see what I mean.

The truth is that the Guardian is hardly perfect. Having instigated the closure of the News of the World, and the resulting loss of 300 jobs, it has transpired that people working for the NOTW did not cause the deletion that gave the Dowler parents false hope.

Was there an ounce of humility from the Editor-In-Chief Alan Rusbridger, or Nick Davies, whose by-line adorns the story? Not a bit of it. There was excuse after excuse, a defensive piece by Davies, and a note in the corrections and clarifications column. Given that this was a game changing, front page story, this hardly constitutes the like-for-like apology so often demanded by Guardianistas....read more

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/789/the_guardian_smug_arrogant_and_subject_to_special_treatment