Mayor Of London Says Internet To Blame For British Press Sins

from the piffle-and-tosh dept

Tue, Dec 11th 2012 9:34am — Glyn Moody

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is something of an institution in the UK, famous for his blond mop of hair and outrageous opinions. He's also been a journalist on and off for two decades, and is close to Rupert Murdoch, so it should perhaps come as no surprise that he's penned a characteristically witty defense of British newspapers. They're currently under threat of having governmental regulation imposed upon them in the wake of the UK's Leveson Inquiry, written in response to years of journalists breaking the law in search of hot stories, as Johnson acknowledges:

They have shoved their slavering snouts into the parlours of weeping widows, and by their outrageous lies they have driven the relatives of their victims to suicide. When you read Leveson in full, you are left to ponder the mystery of how people can behave like this. Are these journalists that much nastier and more cynical than the rest of the human race? Why do they seem to have got out of control? The answer is simple. The press are no nastier than anyone else; quite the reverse. On the whole, journalists are highly intelligent, amusing and frequently idealistic.

But if that is the case, how is it possible they have been shoving their slavering snouts all over the place? Johnson has a simple explanation: for some papers the costs are becoming prohibitive. Every year, every month, they are losing ground to blogs and Twitter and Google News; every year the internet eats more destructively into the business case for old-fashioned journalism. That is at least one of the reasons why some journalists have been driven to behave so disgracefully, squawking ever louder, no matter how erroneously, in the hope of being noticed.
Yes, it's all the Internet's fault. Those poor journalists lost their otherwise robust moral compass because Big Bad Google and friends have been progressively stealing their daily bread. Of course, we've heard this narrative about Google destroying newspapers many times before. It's what publishers around the world are saying, while asking for a cut of Google's revenues. It's what Rupert Murdoch has been saying, although he still wants to be included in Google's search results.

But this whole idea is "an inverted pyramid of piffle", to use a famous phrase of Johnson's. It wasn't Google and the Internet that destroyed traditional journalism, it was the newspapers themselves by refusing to evolve as new technologies have come along that changed the relationship with the reader in significant ways. Johnson's attempt to deflect blame away from the guilty parties onto the agents of technological change is simply shabby.

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Filed Under: boris johnson, internet, journalism, london, mayor, press

42 Comments

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Zakida Paul (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 9:42am

Boris Johnson
The ultimate bumbling Englishman. I find it so difficult to take him seriously.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2012 @ 9:45am

It's true, it's google's fault that Newscorp hacked into the phones of dead 13 year old girls. They had to compete with google somehow!

And it's not my fault that I cheated on my wife with 5 other women, it's... the Internet's fault, specifically google's fault! If I hadn't seen other people cheating on their wife I would have never cheated on mine... honest!
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Richard (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 9:45am

Refutation
How does this explain press excesses in the 70's and 80's?

For example the Sun's disgraceful treatment of the Hillsborough Tragedy?
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gorehound (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 9:47am

Re: Boris Johnson
He really is an Ass !
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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 9:49am

Makes sense
Those poor journalists probably learned how to hack a mobile on the internet.
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sehlat (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 9:50am

He's obviously channeling Anna Russell
"But I am happy; now I've learned
The lesson this has taught;
That everything I do that's wrong -
Is someone else's fault."

-- Jolly Old Sigmund Freud
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Richard (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 9:52am

Murdoch
the mystery of how people can behave like this. Are these journalists that much nastier and more cynical than the rest of the human race? Why do they seem to have got out of control?

Is simply explained by one fact - the dominance of the British press by Rupert Murdoch.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2012 @ 10:03am

If you've got bad journalism its your own fault regardless of internet or not. Their real complaint is they can't keep shoveling you junk because you don't have options anymore.
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Lord Binky, 11 Dec 2012 @ 10:03am

Print journalists children at heart and mind.....
So... Because there are more people (competition), and the journalists want to be noticed still, they justify crying wolf and causing problems to continue to get attention.

Sure, that totally sounds like "highly intelligent, amusing and frequently idealistic" people to me.
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PT (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 10:05am

Oh puh-leeez...
every year the internet eats more destructively into the business case for old-fashioned journalism. That is at least one of the reasons why some journalists have been driven to behave so disgracefully

What a load of bollocks. Tabloid journalists behave disgracefully because they are unprincipled shits and know no other way to behave. It's not like this behavior is anything recent. I worked for a company in England, in the early 1990s. One of my colleagues kept on his desk a radio scanner and a cassette recorder. When I asked him why, he told me that we were within range of a cell tower that was, in turn, within range of a Royal residence, and back in those days, cell tower relays were analog and unencrypted. Occasionally, if you paid attention, you could catch one side of a conversation between a princess and her lover, for which Rupert Murdoch's Sun tabloid would pay handsomely. He had already sold them several.

As for the internet, back in those days I'd be surprised if any journalist had ever heard of it. I myself had only read stories about it in Phrack.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2012 @ 10:08am

Boris is rulling class. Rulling class wants Censor and Control
journalists....... who delve deep into shit that no one should care about.

journalists....... who just print press releases on stuff that really matters.

Journalists my arse ��
��
Bunch of bullshitters, spamming bullshit everywhere, more-like.
Just don't offend the powerful masters, while out bullshitting up the place... �k ? �� journalist ?

Thank fuck for the internet, I say.
A place where real journalism lives, away from corporate stooges and government censorship.
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Lowestofthekeys (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 10:13am

Did anyone else visualize Brois raising his cane to emphasize certain words while he was dictating his thoughts?
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weneedhelp (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 10:14am

The Mayor of London
Great. Now I have werewolves of London stuck in my head.

Aaahoo! Werewolves of London. Aaahoo!
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Jeffry Houser (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 10:16am

Is this quote really in support of the actions?
Nothing in the quoted text actually supports the illegal actions of the journalists. It basically, says increased competition put them under pressure; which I think is fairly astute.

Too bad they acted badly when put under pressure.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2012 @ 10:24am

Yes I should buy a newspaper a big ole thing, for $2.50 so I can read a handful of articles. Sounds like a great deal, way better then the internet of course.
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out_of_the_blue, 11 Dec 2012 @ 10:25am

IF you do kill journalism, where's the replacement?
Mike's re-writes have to come from somewhere. That's one point.

2nd point; of course you're blowing smoke as usual without any reference to specific numbers:
"Little change in newspaper circulation numbers"
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2012/10/30/largest-us-newspapers/1669117/

3rd, aren't you re-writing here, about whatever comes up in the dinosaur journalism outlets -- for free -- "in the hope of being noticed"? -- Where exactly are YOUR original contributions to journalism, Glyn Moody? Quit stealing from BBC and The Telegraph!
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Zakida Paul (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 10:27am

Bad journalism is bad journalism whether it is in print media or on the Internet. The medium is neutral and it is the activities of people that makes it good or bad.
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Zakida Paul (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 10:28am

Re: IF you do kill journalism, where's the replacement?
You should direct your question to Murdoch and his ilk because he is doing more to kill PROPER journalism than the Internet could ever do.

Now, fuck off.
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Call me Al, 11 Dec 2012 @ 10:55am

Re: Murdoch
That is frankly rubbish. The Daily Fail isn't a Murdoch paper and that is the worst of the lot.

To oversimplify and say it is Murdoch's fault is every bit as bad as saying it is the internets.
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Lowestofthekeys (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 10:55am

Re: Re: IF you do kill journalism, where's the replacement?
"Now, fuck off."

OOTB doesn't have time for that!

Do you have any idea how long it takes for him to gather strands of Masnick's hair for his doll?
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Call me Al, 11 Dec 2012 @ 10:56am

Re: Boris is rulling class. Rulling class wants Censor and Control
I take it you didn't actually read the article?

He is against press regulation by the state. Therefore he is against (in this case) censorship and control.
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Another AC, 11 Dec 2012 @ 11:04am

Re: IF you do kill journalism, where's the replacement?
That link seems to disprove your point. Beyond the incorrect conclusion you drew that because circulation didn't change in the last 6 months therefore newspapers are A-OK (it doesn't jive with the fact that newspapers have been shrinking in circulation for decades now).

The article mentions that there were 613 newspapers in the previous 6 months they checked, then 528 in the latest 6 months. Of course each newspaper grew circulation as a percentage, because there were 85 fewer newspapers.
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Mike (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 11:29am

Re: Is this quote really in support of the actions?
Thank you, that's what I was about to say. I read the quotes above and nothing suggests that Boris is excusing the actions of the journalists, he is merely pointing out one potential explanation. At no point does he say that because the internet is eating into the traditional business that justifies the actions of the journalists, in fact he still refers to that behavior as "disgraceful".
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2012 @ 11:34am

Re: Print journalists children at heart and mind.....
Boris is conservative. All conservative parties across Europe are clamouring for the blood of Google and "a fair compensation" for the "lifeblood of our democracy" which in their mind is the newspapers.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2012 @ 11:35am

he normally speaks a lot of sense but in this instance, he is talking like a complete twat!! not that Murdoch's friendship would have anything to do with his opinion, of course!
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2012 @ 11:39am

competition = piracy?
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Old Fool (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 11:41am

Boris Johnson (our likely next Prime Minister), David Cameron and their ilk live in a different universe to us. I would suggest ignoring the occasional brain fart.

It's not what you know, it's who you know - and they went to Eaton, prep school of the rich and titled.
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dataGuy (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 11:50am

Many forces at work
While disruption by the internet is a significant force on journalism, I think the biggest negative driver is themselves. Once reporters stop offering even the pretense of reporting just the facts of a story and openly promoted only editorial spin, their days were numbered.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2012 @ 11:51am

Re: Re: Boris Johnson
He's also surprisingly witty and generally understanding of issues.

Yes, he has his moments. That's what makes him so amusing.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2012 @ 11:52am

That is at least one of the reasons why some journalists have been driven to behave so disgracefully
If you abandon your principles during a crisis, you were never principled in the first place.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2012 @ 11:55am

Re: Re: Boris is rulling class. Rulling class wants Censor and Control
That's not at all what's actually being proposed by Leveson. What's being proposed is the equivalent of the Press Complaints Commission, but backed with the legal power to pass information on to the Prosecution Service. the PCC, at the moment, cannot do that without consent from both the plaintiff and the defendant.

Pretty much the main recommendation from Leveson is that the PCC can pass that information on without the consent of the defendant, be it a newspaper or a particular journalist. Which isn't really that much.
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silverscarcat (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 12:33pm

Re: IF you do kill journalism, where's the replacement?
Have you ever read a newspaper?

Notice how all the papers have AP by their article titles?

That means they just "stole" from the Associated Press.

So, where's the original contribution to journalism, eh?

Oh, right, there IS NONE!
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2012 @ 1:09pm

Re: IF you do kill journalism, where's the replacement?
what are you saying? the bbc and telegraph should stop stealing the stories they report on?
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2012 @ 1:39pm

Re: Re: Boris is rulling class. Rulling class wants Censor and Control
Ask Boris then, what he thinks of Wikileaks journalism.

OR the people who investigate and report facts on the 6,000 Londoners aged 18-24, that will be made to do 13 weeks' unpaid work as a condition of claiming their �56-a-week benefit.

Somehow I think he wants that* type of real journalism regulated.
He does want press releases to be regurgitated ad nauseum to spin the slave labor.
After his last slave labor scheme that had people working at Tesco for nothing, it's obvious he wants it.

Boris Johnson's former right hand man takes PR job with News International
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/aug/28/boris-johnson-unpaid-work-young-people
No current conflict of interests either.

""He is against press regulation by the state."" bullshit.

Against regulation....... bullshit. (regulating benefit for poor people, making slaves of them)
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anonymouse, 11 Dec 2012 @ 2:17pm

Re: Boris Johnson
He uses the bumbling fool persona very well and in fact is extremely clever, just see some of the things he has managed to do for London and you realise the bumbling fool is not all that bumbling when it comes to policy, well mostly when he is well informed.
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John Fenderson (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 2:42pm

Re:
Yes, this. For my part, I stopped reading US papers before the internet was a viable news tool. I did this because it was readily apparent that the news outlets in the US had become, by and large, pure garbage and overt lies.

The internet didn't cost the newspapers my business. Their own lack of doing real journalism did.
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G Thompson (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 9:17pm

Re: Refutation
ummm.. I'll take "Cocaine and Fidonet" for the 1980's and "CB Radios & Rock & Roll" for the 70's.

oooh... What do I win??? What do I win?

hmmm A date with a page 3 girl.. woohoo!!
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Dec 2012 @ 9:51pm

Re: IF you do kill journalism, where's the replacement?
Ah, there's our burst of blubbering blather. I was wondering when you'd jump in to shit all over the comments, again. Actually, I must say I'm amazed. There was a clear opening for you to take a shot at Google, and you skipped it. I'd congratulate you if the resultant spew wasn't so atrociously unbalanced and, to put it simply, just plain stupid.
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Pete Austin, 11 Dec 2012 @ 10:13pm

Please Read Boris Johnson's Article
It's an excellent, short, opinion piece which has been misrepresented here in Techdirt. Basically he suggests the Leveson Inquiry has made a serious mistake by seeking to regulate the tail while forgetting the dog.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9718041/It-is-the-web-not-the-press-that-must-be-brou ght-under-control.html#
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Pete Austin, 11 Dec 2012 @ 10:13pm

Please Read Boris Johnson's Article
It's an excellent, short, opinion piece which has been misrepresented here in Techdirt. Basically he suggests the Leveson Inquiry has made a serious mistake by seeking to regulate the tail while forgetting the dog.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9718041/It-is-the-web-not-the-press-that-must-be-brou ght-under-control.html#
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Matthew Cline (profile), 12 Dec 2012 @ 12:59am

Re: Refutation
The Internet is so potent that it destroys cause and effect, letting making it responsible for things that happened before it became popular.
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PT (profile), 12 Dec 2012 @ 9:46am

Re: Please Read Boris Johnson's Article
I went and read the linked article, and was intrigued by the picture of this Boris Johnson person at the top. The resemblance to Donald Trump is quite remarkable! I wonder if they may be related?
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