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I really couldn`t give a toss about celebrity culture, its the average person on the street that really needs protecting, if you have ever been on the receiving end you would know what it was like.
Quote: But beyond the phone hacking and bribing police, there is also the issue of the press behaviour in general such as libelling someone in a headline then printing an apology on page 26, inventing stories to sell papers and others: not illegal but beyond the pale in their actions. The PCC is largely toothless, is run by the 'old boys network of editors and ex-editors, and relies too much on funds from the newspapers for its very exitence.
And that to me is why it needs a legal 'under-pinning' because there have been systems in place that should have prevented some of the press behaving the way they have, but they failed, continuously.
Quote: its the average person on the street that really needs protecting
Exactly. The average man in the street doesnt have access, or even the money, for top lawyers to fight their corner and one part of the proposals would possibly help prevent that dirty money making exercise.
The press should be impartial, it should report on and analyse government policy and it should expose wrong doing but what it should not do is make it up as it goes along for the sake of profit which is at the expense of human decency.
Quote: The press should be impartial, it should report on and analyse government policy and it should expose wrong doing but what it should not do is make it up as it goes along for the sake of profit which is at the expense of human decency.
Absolutely agree. If only we had such decent, grown-up people running our politics and media...
It is because of the abysmal record of our newspaper coverage that we so desperately need the BBC to man-up and report all sides of an argument instead of acting as a UK and US government arm for propaganda. 
Quote: Same problem as with 'neutral' or whatvever you want to call it - define 'impartial'.
The BBC has been accused of being left wing by some, right wing by others. So where is' impartial'?
I think you're right - defining impartiality is not always easy but organs like the BBC, who sign a charter declaring their neutrality in broadcasting various issues, should at least try to provide some sort of balance by giving all sides an equal air time and an equal opportunity to state their views. You may agree or disagree with me but it has been amply demonstrated time and time again that the BBC do not provide this service. For example, there is a heavy bias against the Palestinian cause in the conflict with Israel.
When anyone complains to the BBC's Helen Boaden (one of the chiefs of BBC News editing ) about lack of objectivity and equal time given to all arguments, she just seems to stonewall or provides answers that simply do not address the question - time after time. For further evidence of the BBC's lack of trustworthiness, just look at the Saville fiasco...
The BBC simply acts as a mouthpiece for governments here and in the US. People like Boaden say things like "the US and UK's invasion of Iraq was about bringing democracy to the region".
Surely, the BBC should say is something like: "The US and UK governments say the invasion of Iraq was about bringing democracy to the region.
Quote: The BBC has been accused of being left wing by some, right wing by others. So where is' impartial'?
There is this rather facile argument that if you are being criticized by the left as being right-wing and the right as being left-wing, then you must be doing something about right.
This sort of thinking completely overlooks the fact that governments of all persuasions are already biased to the right by default.
People throw these silly left wing labels about when I see almost no evidence whatsoever of a left-wing influence anywhere - thanks to the power of the overwhelmingly right wing media who create left wing demons who prove to be mere 'champagne socialists'.
Quote: There is this rather facile argument that if you are being criticized by the left as being right-wing and the right as being left-wing, then you must be doing something about right.
Did you hear a 'whoosh' as the point went right over your head?
What I was getting at was, how can you be seen as impartial if two people can give completely opposite assessments of you political standpoint. Whose defintion of'impartial' do you take?
Quote: governments of all persuasions are already biased to the right by default
So Castro was leading a right wing government? Mao? The Scandanavian countries?
Which is amusing when you then say
Quote: People throw these silly left wing labels about
How about 'silly right wing' labels?
Quote: should at least try to provide some sort of balance by giving all sides an equal air time and an equal opportunity to state their views.
I agree completely.
But for a while we have had the pathetic situation where they do a detailed article on a contentious issue then right at the end tag the 'balancing' phrase 'the society of......disagree'. End of article with no examination of the opposite view.
I think the problem is not so much the bias in the BBC but the lack of resource in that the staff don't have time to do a decent analysis which means they have to take the information as they
find it and report it verbatim. But again, given that they do the same with any government it is hard to say the BBC has any particular bent.
Quote: I'm amazed that there should be so many people in the country ready to support them [press regulators]
Hardly surprising -
http://hackinginquiry.org/intrusion/
Quote: Oh, and does anyone seriously believe that Brooks and Co will get what they are due?
The Establishment's unwritten rule clearly states: 'The sin is to be found out' .....then it's God help you. It's to be hoped the rule applies here and that deserving cases get what's coming to them.
There was a piece on the news that an MP, jailed for 9 months because he fiddled expenses, had been released after serving nine days. It seems that "our people" are not sublect to the same penalties as the peasantry.
Quote: Did you hear a 'whoosh' as the point went right over your head?
What I was getting at was, how can you be seen as impartial if two people can give completely opposite assessments of you political standpoint. Whose defintion of'impartial' do you take?
Surely, you publish/broadcast all the assessments. My view of impartiality in the media is that everyone's views should be represented as far as possible.
Quote: "governments of all persuasions are already biased to the right by default"
So Castro was leading a right wing government? Mao? The Scandanavian countries?
Whoops! Sorry! I deserved that! What I should have said and want I meant was all UK governments (and US administrations) are skewed to the right.
Quote: But again, given that they do the same with any government it is hard to say the BBC has any particular bent.
But that is my point: the BBC always follows the government of any hue and all governments are tied to or tied down by the Establishment and the Establishment is certainly right-wing.
Quote: I really couldn`t give a toss about celebrity culture, its the average person on the street that really needs protecting, if you have ever been on the receiving end you would know what it was like.
Have you been on the receiving end then? What was the situation?
Yes I have, and as K says, us mere mortals haven`t the same clout as celebrities 
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