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PRESS RELEASE
8th September '97
PRESS "RESTRAINT" - "ONE HOLLOW CHEER"
Roger Gale MP (N. Thanet), Vice Chairman (Media) of the Conservative National
Heritage Committee, has, this morning, offered "one hollow cheer" in response to
"undertakings" by some newspapers that they will not publish intrusive pictures of the
Royal Princes.
"Todate the press have offered as little as response as possible in response to public
revulsion at press intrusion and at the manner in which, during the past week, the
tabloid press have treated the Royal Family" says the MP.
"The press had already agreed - two years ago - not to snatch pictures of Prince
William at school and this extra "undertaking", by some newspapers will do little to
satisfy those that believe that intrusion into, particularly, private grief and into private
life, using modern technology, must be curbed.
It is not only, or even, members of the Royal Family, Members of Parliament and
celebrities that have a right to freedom from harassment, but those people in every
walk of life who find themselves suddenly thrown momentarily and often involuntarily
into circumstances that attract attention.
It is unlikely that those United Kingdom newspapers that were, on the morning of
Princess Diana's death, expressing interest in the car crash, will be much moved for
much time by anything other than a change in the law.
I regard this as a cynical attempt, in advice of the Press Complaints Commission Code
of Practice Committee, meeting on Thursday of this week, to limit the damage done in
the short term to the image of the press.
I believe that only the establishment, at the very least, of a fully independent Press
Complaints Authority with statutory powers to fine and if necessary suspend
publication of newspapers, together with the implementation of the Calcutt Report will
create a climate in which the respectability and authority of a free press in a free
society can be restored.
Roger Gale MP
GALE'S VIEW
9th September '97
The Government likes to think that it enjoys a special relationship with
"the people's" tabloid Press. That being so it is not surprising that Mr.
Blair and his Heritage Secretary appear to have set their faces against public
opinion and ignore demands that fresh controls should be imposed upon harassment
and intrusion by the media.
The Press Complaints Commission 'Guidelines Committee' meeting this week under
the Chairmanship of the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Mail, Sir David English,
can therefore be relied upon to do the absolute minimum to respond to the
wave of public revulsion at the antics of the Press following the death of
Diana, Princess of Wales.
Sir.David, speaking on radio and television avowed, with what must have been
temporary loss of memory, that his newspaper did not buy photographs taken
by the paparazzi. Was it not the Mail that, on August 11th, published intrusive
pictures of Princess Diana and Mr. Dodi Fayed taken by an Italian Paparazzo?
Pictures similar to those published by the Mirror (stablemate of the self-
righteous Independent) and other tabloids?
The High Sheriff of Kent, Mr. Edwin Pratt-Boorman, who is also Chairman and
Chief Executive of the Kent Messenger Group (publishers of the 'Camillagate'
taped conversation between Prince Charles and Mrs. Parker-Bowles) boasts that
UK newspapers did not bid for the 'crash' pictures taken after the fatal accident.
My Fleet Street sources suggest that interest was indeed being expressed in
those ghoulish pictures on behalf of the Daily Mail and The News of the World.
A cynic might believe that it was the withdrawal of those pictures from the
market by the agency handling them, rather than any self-restraint on behalf
of the British Press, that prevented their publication in the UK.
I have been criticised for speaking too quickly after the death of the Princess
of Wales. If so, I am in good company. I believe that unless we speak swiftly
and loudly and continue to speak out then those whose only aim is to grab
a larger share of a diminishing market for national newspapers will, as soon
as safe to do so, return to the intrusion that has become, in recent years,
the hallmark of the gutter press.
I DO believe that the proprietors and the editors of the newspapers and magazines,
world-wide, that feed the demand for salacious pictures, bear a great burden
of guilt for the deaths of Princess Diana, Mr. Dodi Fayed and their driver.
I was appalled at the manner in which those people first sought to distance
themselves from blame (the photographers were 'following' not 'chasing' the
car and 'the driver was 'drunk at 120 miles an hour') and then began to pillory
a grieving Royal Family for not immediately rushing to London to share in
their mass-media hysteria.
Is not a grandmother (the Queen IS a grandmother) allowed to do her duty,
first, to her bereaved grandchildren and to do so in privacy and seclusion
and peace? The headlines of the midweek tabloids were arrogant, hypocritical
and revolting.
I have said for a long time now that the time has come for Parliament to have
the guts to act to curtail the overweening and intrusive power of the Press.
First, we need a fully independent Press Complaints Authority with statutory
powers to fine and, if necessary, suspend publication of those that are beyond
the pale. This should replace the self-serving Press Complaints Commission
that is funded by the Press and has failed to 'self-regulate' those tabloid
editors that are aware that it has no sanctions. Tell me what a responsible
Press has to fear from an independent body if you believe me to be wrong.
Second, Parliament must implement the recommendations of the report that recommended
a tightening of the laws of trespass to prevent intrusion ('burglary' if you
are not a newspaper reporter!) and a clampdown on the publication of pictures
taken- using intrusive telephoto television and still camera lenses.
Finally I would add a ban on electronic eavesdropping and the use of laser-
directed long-distance microphones.
There are those, my parliamentary neighbour Dr. Ladyman included, who claim
that this would inhibit 'investigative journalism'. They are wholly ill-
informed. It has always been accepted that there would be a Public Interest
(not 'interesting to the public and it sells newspapers') defence and good
investigative reporters were exposing wrongdoing long before the gutter press
started peeping through lavatory keyholes.
I believe that a free democracy needs a free press. I am not advocating 'censorship'
as some would have it. But I also believe that a free press must be a responsible
press and that individuals, in any walk of life, (the grieving and bereaved
family of a fireman or a policeman killed on duty are as entitled to privacy
as a duke or duchess) have a right to be left in peace.
I believe that the national press has signally, failed in its own duty to put
its own house in order and cannot now be relied upon to do so in the wake
of a terrible tragedy. Those of us in Parliament, all of us, must have
the courage to bear the inevitable shrieks of criticism and act on behalf
not of ourselves, but the people.
(Ends)
Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Page
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Thanks for the TERRIFIC software at a great price!
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I've been a happy Olltwit user for years - I downloaded several of your programs back in '04, for my older son to use. Now it's time for my younger son to use them, and I've come back to your site to find 1) I owe you, and 2) you have more great stuff. I'm happy to pay up because I know the quality of your programs.
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We got your DVD and its fab!
Many thanks
Lorrane, Scotland
Thank you for creating these programs.
I have ADHD like your son, Richard, and got really much help from your great educational programs.
Paal, Norway
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