It's Goodbye to Coulson, and hello to Green Party media reforms

Good. Coulson has gone. Some may think that is the end of the matter, but it's not.

Coulson remains either a liar, or an incompetent, or possibly both. He is standing by his story that he was ignorant of the phone hacks. That needs to be tested in the courts, but while at present we have a dozen witnesses who say he knew, none will speak out. There are two reasons for this.

One is the danger that if they come out of the hacking closet, they could incriminate themselves. That is why we need an amnesty, for a set period, for journos to come out and sing sweetly about what they know, so that we can clear the Augean stables. Remember that the NoTW is not alone in this; it is alleged that other papers do substantial amounts of hacking. Some may have public interest justification: it needs to be brought out into the sunlight.

The other reason is that they fear it could embugger their careers. Difficult. But. There is safety in numbers, and if journos are offered the carrot of amnesty (for a period of time) and a stick of prosecutions - (?and having their journalist accreditation withdrawn?) - we might expect a large and fairly harmonious choir of confessors.

The hacking is just one strand of the problem. Some of the other problems, and solutions, are addressed in the motion that the Green Party adopted in Sept 09, Birmingham. Here's the gist of it.


The scandal arising from illegal surveillance of public figures by the News of the World raises many important questions relating to democracy in the UK.  The influence of Rupert Murdoch's News International empire is excessive, and its relations with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), who appear to have failed to conduct the News of the World investigation with due diligence, is questionable.
 
The Green Party, through its elected members and its press activity, calls for :

1.    An independent inquiry, whether judicial or by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Police.
2.    The MPS to  release all information relating to illegal surveillance to those affected by it
3.    A fresh investigation into the surveillance by a police force other than the MPS
4.    Mobile phone companies to review and improve their customers' security
5.    The setting up of a Media Commission, along the lines of the Banking Commission, to review and make recommendations on better journalistic practices, including the matter of undue domination of the media by a single person or corporation.
6.    An amnesty for past acts of illegal surveillance by journalists, in order to get a fresh start without an unmanageable number of individual court cases
7.    The Press Complaints Commission to be replaced by a body with real authority to correct errors within the media. 

 A few modest little reforms there. All perfectly reasonable. 

Green Party Policy on Andy Coulson

This resolution was passed unanimously at the last Green Party Conference in Birmingham Sept 10-13th.

1.    Conference notes that the scandal arising from illegal surveillance of public figures by the News of the World raises many important questions relating to democracy in the UK. It is emerging that the tabloid press frequently indulge in illegality. The influence of Rupert Murdoch's News International empire is excessive, and its relations with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), who appear to have failed to conduct the News of the World investigation with due diligence, is questionable.

Conference resolves that the Green Party, through its elected members and its press activity, should call for :
1.    An independent inquiry, whether judicial or by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Police.
2.    The MPS to  release all information relating to illegal surveillance to those affected by it
3.    A fresh investigation into the surveillance by a police force other than the MPS
4.    Mobile phone companies to review and improve their customers' security
5.    The setting up of a Media Commission, along the lines of the Banking Commission, to review and make recommendations on better journalistic practices, including the matter of undue domination of the media by a single person or corporation.
6.    An amnesty for past acts of illegal surveillance by journalists, in order to get a fresh start without an unmanageable number of individual court cases
7.    The Press Complaints Commission to be replaced by a body with real authority to correct errors within the media.

Coulson: journalist hacking amnesty needed

The news that the Crown Prosecution Service has decided to give up its half-hearted pursuit of Andy Coulson, Cameron's mendacious spinmeister, comes as no surprise. The CPS it was that took the extraordinary decision not to advise the News of the World's original victims that they had been hacked.  The CPS is part of the police service, and there is evidence that the police have been taking money from the NoTW, so effectively they would be investigating themselves.

The reason given by the CPS is that none of the many journalists who can testify that Coulson knew of the hacking are willing to give their names. Well, duh. Of course not, they would be incriminating themselves, and liable to be prosecuted for breaking the law.

So, as the Green Party Conference has said, there is a need for an amnesty on all journalists involved in phone hacking, so that the truth can come out and we can start again with a clean sheet.


Here is a link to the Ballad of Andy Coulson.