The Freedom of the Press

Anyone who has read my ramblings over the past year or so will know that I am not a fan of David Cameron.  I believe that he is trying to please too many people and as a consequence he has lost his credibility. Having said that he has done us all a favour by defying the Stalinists from the Lib Dems and the Communists from Labour and insisting that the press regulate themselves.

If we ever submit to any sort of 'independent' authority regulating the press it would soon be stuffed by the usual 'Common Purpose' recruited suspects and we would end up with the British equivalent of 'Pravda'.

Don't get me wrong the press have, in many cases, acted disgracefully in the past.  Their pursuit of individuals, the 'doorstepping' and the phone hacking should have had no place in our society. Some of these individuals should rightly be punished and probably will be.

However, the celebrity stuffed group 'Hacked Off' has been given far too much prominence in the media which always makes me suspicious that something nasty is afoot.  Amidst them are genuine people who have been treated badly by the press and the Dowlers are probably the most high profile.  I do however seriously object to the McCanns being continually linked with the Dowlers because their cases are vastly different.

When I see Gerry McCann being used as a victim of the press when the only victim was his daughter I get angry.  Nobody yet knows what happened to his daughter because there is a lot of conflicting evidence but what we do know is that he left his daughter alone and unprotected because he and his wife preferred to socialise.  In the case of the Dowlers their daughter was murdered by a beast.  Where is the link?

This whole episode is being led by the Media Standards Trust which despite the high sounding title is full of people who do not have our health at the heart of their objectives.  They are using actor Hugh Grant as a front man and he of course has his own reasons for hating the press. 

If the Lib Dems and Labour gang up on the Conservatives then surely the Coalition is finished for ever and we are all back to square one.  If they win the vote on Monday and then a General Election should follow because it is clear that the Cameron/Clegg alliance has collapsed.

Subsequently however, if the moronic public vote for a Miliband/Clegg alliance then you will see a collapse of public freedom the like of which will never have been seen before in this country!