It could only be a matter of time before the modern passion for
regulation afflicted the NUJ with its consultation paper ( Press
Gazette , 4 February).
However, the ideas are misguided.
For
centuries, journalists have known exactly how to raise their income:
they put their communication skills entirely at the disposal of a
particular party, company or potentate.
If they want to remain at all independent, they have to take a risk and a lower pay scale.
Related
There
is also a major difference between a CORGI gas installer and a
journalist. The gas installer will, as a general rule, wish to do the
best job for the person he is dealing with; a journalist, on the other
hand, is quite possibly attempting to get that person arrested, exposed
to ridicule or dismissed.
This inevitably creates a degree of tension and the possibility of misunderstanding.
I
don’t think any amount of examination-taking is likely to resolve this
problem, and just who is going to judge whether a journalist has done
his/her job properly?
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One more point: the late-lamented King
Canute, alluded to by Chris Wheal, was not actually trying to hold the
tide back; he was demonstrating to over-enthusiastic courtiers that his
powers were limited.
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