What a good boy Tony is! After 10 years, he has waited until his last days at Downing Street to vent his rage at the press. His spin doctors, commanded by Alistair Campbell, used to charm the press as young lovers flirt. Now the outgoing prime minister thinks that the media should be subject to some form of external regulation. What do you mean by external regulation, Mr. Blair? A new soft way to control these “feral beasts tearing people and reputations to bits,” he might say. Remember David Kelly? Who cared about reputation when it came to him?
Nicolas Sarkozy hadn’t even been given the key to Elysée Palace when he showed his true colors. One of his closets aides phoned the owner of Le Journal du Dimanche -- the tycoon Lagardère -- to stop an article about his wife from going to press. The news was irrelevant but public: his wife, Cecilia, didn’t cast her vote in the second round of presidential elections. Anyone who checks the public register can confirm that Cecilia abstained. So, where’s the rub? The fact is that the paper didn’t publish the article.
Tony Blair’s comments remind me of Prince Charles’ slip of the tongue to his sons during a photo call. Believing the microphones were off, he whispered his disdain about the reporters that follow him everyday -- the same “bastards” who create the magic of today’s monarchy.
Mistrust, contempt and one-upmanship are common and neutral between power and the press. That, at least, is much healthier than cronyism. The press must serve as a public watchdog. It is inevitable that public figures will try to manipulate how the media portrays them. There is, however, a line between favorable public relations and downright abuse.
The well-loved socialist president Felipe González was very upset with revelations about the state death squad killing of ETA terrorists in the 1980s. So he demanded that the owner of a Madrid newspaper, Diario 16, fire the editor who was adamant about publishing the truth. He did. Many journalists, myself included, left in solidarity with Pedro J. Ramírez and founded a successful new paper, El Mundo. González left office and now earns his living as an advisor to Mexican magnate Carlos Slim. We are still writing. Thank you, Mr. González.
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