Hugh Grant: Investigative Reporter
from the funny-how-things-work dept
You may have heard of the big scandal story, that's been going on for a bit in the UK, concerning reporters from Rupert Murdoch's News of the World listening to voicemails of all sorts of people, in the course of their reporting. There had been earlier reports that it just targeted the royal family, but, last fall, reports came out that it was widespread and covered all sorts of famous people and people in the news. There have been questions about how much the government or law enforcement officials have been investigating this whole thing... so leave it to an unlikely investigative reporter to turn up some news: actor Hugh Grant, one of the people whose voicemail was accessed.Grant has a somewhat entertaining story in the New Statesman concerning his own secretly recorded interview with one of the ex-reporters who "blew the whistle" on the privacy breaches. Apparently, Grant had randomly met the guy when his car broke down and this guy stopped to help him... while also taking some photos of him that later appeared in the news. When asked to write an article for the New Statesman, Grant thought that he might as well interview the guy, and since he wasn't at all pleased about the photos appearing in the paper (and the whole thing about his voicemails being listened to), he decided to record the interview without letting the guy know.
While there's some general amusement from the fact that Hugh Grant is acting as an investigative reporter, there really is a larger point here. One of the things we commonly hear concerning arguments for paywalls or government support of newspapers is that, without the professionals, no serious investigative reporting would be done. Now, I'm not saying we don't need professionals. I believe professional investigative reporters are important and are likely to remain in business for quite some time. But, you can't discount the fact that they're not the only game in town, anymore. Anyone can be an investigative reporter, if the situation presents itself. Yes, it may involve people who are somehow "connected" to a story and want to get to the bottom of it, but that doesn't make what they turn up any less "news." The key point: if there's a market for it, there will be a way to get it done. There's definitely a market for investigative journalism, and I have no fear that it will continue to be done... even if it occasionally includes random surprises like Hugh Grant bugging a former reporter.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: hugh grant, journalism, news of the world, rupert murdoch, spying
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
...And we all thought he was this nice guy.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Flattery
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Quick question...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
conrrections policy in print and online, archives etc.
Hello, Dan. Thanks for your note. The PD's policy is to correct errors quickly, online and in the newspaper. I don't doubt that because we're still getting accustomed to online publishing that we have missed or delayed corrections in the versions on pressdemocrat.com. I believe we're aware that faulty online information that gets picked up and repeated far and wide is difficult or impossible to trace and correct.
Chris
To: Smith, Chris
Subject: newspaper-errors-can-be-so-amusing-when
Hi Chris...big THANKS for your note...i am not working for a
newspaper anymore, retired, on a very low income....SMILE SIGH......and your NOTE helps me think
this through. Can you WRITE about this problem soemtimes in yorur
column? Maybe interviwe a local tech expert about all this......i am a
writer, blogger, reporter, editor and COPY EDITOR from way back, and I
always SEE typos and gaffes in print and online...and that's okay, to
err is human, but i am glad to know your paper has a good and firm
correction policy in place. And your point that faulty info can get
PICKED UP by other outlets and travel far and wide, not only in the
rush
of quick news and deadlines, but also evn a month or a year later,
archives can pick up OLD stories still online that have goofs or
typos, so my
main focus with my TYPO CAMPAIGN is not so much to get corrections in
the papers ASAP, i think papers are doing their best to do this, BUT
i am worried about the longterm effects of typos and mistakes that
NEvER get corrected and remain archived forever.....such as the Boston
Phoenix recently speaking of Hitler's book titled , er, MIEN KAMPF and
the NYTimes having one fo their top columnists speak of news EKEING
out to the media whne he meant LEAKING OUT....and it has NOT been
correctred at the NYT since LAST JULY.......alomost a year....!!!!
so anything you can add to this campaign outreach re your two points of
1. typos and mistakes can get puicked up and travel far and
wide....GREAT POINT, Chris, i had not thought of that!
2. for future archives and for posterity....time travellers in year
2323 AD might laugh at our online mistakes, no???
Cheers
Danny Bloom, in Taiwan, from Boston
copy editor in Alaska, Japan and Taiwan newspapers
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Journalists found at News of the World
[ link to this | view in chronology ]