It’s not just the security services who should be asking themselves
searching questions about their lack of information over the plans and
motives of the London suicide bombers. We all should.
National
and regional media, not just those in Yorkshire and Buckinghamshire who
were shocked to find that the bombers lived on their patch, have got to
be wondering whether their links to important parts of their
communities are strong enough.
This is not a case of beating
ourselves up for failing to read the minds of men who had kept their
double lives secret even from their closest family.
But it is
nonetheless the right time to ask whether, as a profession, we are
satisfied with the amount of work we put in to forging contacts and
recruiting staff from ethnic groups that are not part of the
traditional readership.
Related
It’s easier to say than to do – as
experiments in areas such as Birmingham have proved – but 7 July’s
events serve as a reminder of how important it is to keep trying.
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