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July 21, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 4:11pm

Why were UK journalists so shocked?

By Press Gazette

Call yourselves journalists? Every media report I scanned from
far-off Australia echoed shock and surprise – particularly that
home-grown terrorists were to blame (London Terror, Press Gazette, 15
July).

As a former Fleet Street sub I like to keep tabs on the UK media, so I read a wide spectrum of views. But do your journalists?

Take
the case of the Yorkshire Evening Post, which recently received the
dubious blessing of the Commission for Racial Equality in the form of
an award for its duties towards “race relations”. Its comeuppance was
quick.

“The Yorkshire Evening Post is a paper at the heart of its
community and we were as shocked as anyone when we discovered what was
happening,” its editor had to admit.

It should have been ashamed more than shocked.

Didn’t
the BNP predict from the heart of the Post’s circulation area that any
terrorists would probably come from somewhere like Dewsbury?

And that the tube was an obvious target? Now British journalists obviously don’t like the BNP at all.

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No surprises there.

Be that as it may, did it not occur to anyone in the media to question their claims in such a critical area?

And was there not one news editor who could risk straying from the beaten path of media manipulation?

Don’t
think I’m yammering on about objective reporting. There was precious
little of it about in my time there. But browbeaten, tame,
insipid? Never.

Richard Davies daviesr@gcb.newsltd.com.au

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

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