PALACE INTRUSION
Troublesome royal servants are nothing new. Twenty years ago the Press Council upheld a complaint against The Sun for invading the Royal Family’s privacy. The Sun had published a centre spread headlined: The astonishing inside secrets of the fun-loving Royals –
Queen Koo’s romps at the Palace.” It was based on material supplied by former servant Kieran Kenny. The Press Council said The Sun should have checked with the palace whether the servant had signed an agreement not to divulge material arising from his employment. It ruled: The material should not have been published because it related to matters that were essentially private.”
CANTEEN SPIES REMAIN UNCOVERED
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An independent inquiry failed to find out who was responsible for placing a bugging device in the canteen at the Evening Argus in Brighton. NUJ members had found the device while holding a chapel meeting. Its discovery led to a twoday strike by journalists. Management strongly denied having placed the device.
WYATT ‘WHITE’ OUT
The News of the World carried a large white space after the paper’s print union NGA chapel refused to handle an article by former Labour MP Sir Woodrow Wyatt commenting on the dispute at Eddy Shah’s Messenger group. NoW editor Derek Jameson told Press Gazette: “I put it to the NGA that Sir Woodrow would be making a comment on the week’s news from Warrington and then I showed them the copy. They decided that no, they couldn’t handle it. We agreed on a paragraph explaining the white space. I didn’t take the view that I should lose a paper over it.”
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FIVE IN THE BED AND THE LITTLE ONE SAID…
his jokey picture of five of Fleet Street’s finest sharing a bed was taken at the Ritz Hotel in Hyderabad, India, during a tour by the Queen andthe Duke of Edinburgh. According to the story in Dog, the Daily Express, Daily Mail and Daily Mirror were sharing one room for two nights to keep expenses down. The bed fellows are, from left, James Whitaker and Kent Gavin (Mirror); Monty Fresco (Mail); John Downing (Express); and John Edwards (Mail).
HUDD USES HIS HEAD
A dramatic picture of an armed policemanfoiling a raid near Bristol was taken by South Avon Mercury photographer Richard Hudd.
He got the exclusive while the rest of the press was held at a police road-block. Hudd used his local knowledge to find a route to the scene and got the picture. As the 13,000 circulation Mercury was not due out for a
week he handed his scoop to sister daily paper, the Western Daily Press.
MAIL ELECTION COVERAGE RULING
Newspapers did not have to be impartial, the Press Council ruled in considering a complaint about the Daily Mail’s General Election coverage. The Mail had referred to seats the Conservatives might “win” and those which Labour might “grab”.
NUJ’S DIMBLEBY DEFEAT
The NUJ faced sequestration of its assets over its refusal to call off the blacking of the Dimbleby Newspaper Group in southwest London. The union had lost an appeal against a High Court order that the action at Dimbleby was unlawful.
TV GUIDE DISPUTE
It wasn’t just newspapers facing industrial strife. The Christmas issue of Radio Times was not available in London and the South East because of a dispute over the closure of BPCC’s print plant at in West London.
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