View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
February 5, 2004updated 22 Nov 2022 1:30pm

Vigorous response shows determination abounds

By Press Gazette

The day after Lord Hutton delivered his verdict last week, Press Gazette sent an e-mail to its subscribers. We wanted to know how worried you were about the impact that the verdict might have.

The response was astonishing. Replies came in from all corners of the journalism world. From regional newspapers; from national newspapers; from business magazines; from consumer magazines; from freelances; from students; from academics and, of course, from the BBC itself.

The scale of the response – all 12,000 words of it – meant we could only publish a fraction of it in this magazine, on pages 12 and 13 and on the letters page opposite. The full, unedited replies are available on our website.

What it shows is that there is far from a consensus in your views.

Although the majority were critical of Hutton and defended the BBC’s right to broadcast a story that was quite clearly in the public interest, a significant number, perhaps around 30 per cent, felt the corporation’s failings had quite rightly been exposed.

But the message that does come through loud and clear is how much passion there is out there and how much concern there is in the journalism world that proper investigative reporting will be in some way diminished in the fallout from Hutton’s decision.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

What also comes across is an awareness that courage and determination will be needed in the weeks and months ahead to ensure that we aren’t cowed by those parts of the establishment which will undoubtedly brandish Hutton’s name when things get sticky for them.

The worst charge that could be levelled against us, as a profession, is that we slept while any part of our freedom to report was stolen from under our noses.

Judging by the strength and volume of your replies, there is little chance of that happening.

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

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network