Fleet Street’s Dark Arts exposed
Funny thing, how Clive Goodman is nowhere to be seen on the NoW website
Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s Communications Director/Spin Master, is having a difficult time distancing himself from the Clive Goodman phone-tapping scandal (Goodman, the royal editor of News of the World, was jailed for phone-tapping members of the royal staff and other prominent people. Andy Coulson, then editor of News of the World, denied any knowledge of the illegal activities, but assumed responsibility and stepped down.) Currently, everybody is falling over each other to tell us that Goodman was a rogue journalist, a lone wolf hunting on his own. Albeit, there is sources who claim that there are around 2-3000 suspected cases, but, hey, Goodman was a busy wolf.
The journalistic focus is going to be on Cameron and Coulson, but will the reporting on this issue dig deeper than that? Will it actually shine a light on the media industry, where this sort of thing cannot be described in singular? It is well known that “Fleet Street” has a dark side, which is rarely discussed in public, as the media is very reluctant to reflect on its own behaviour – it can quickly become uncomfortable for everybody. That is why, I am pleased to see this case surface in the multi-platform mediascape. This we can thank the tenacious Nick Davies for (read his excellent book Flat Earth News asap).