Global Journalism Review

Campbell in denial

Nicholas Jones was at the Royal Festival Hall for An Audience with Alastair Campbell

When it comes to facing up to his own past, Alastair Campbell remains in denial, unable to recognise the damage which he did to both the democratic process and political journalism.

An audience at the Royal Festival Hall with Tony Blair’s former spin supremo began as an exercise in self justification and turned into an extended rant against the reporting standards of British newspapers, television and radio -- a news media which he claimed was more distrusted than anywhere else in Europe.

British journalists were castigated for expressing greater distaste and contempt for politicians than their counterparts across the Channel, a sin from which Campbell exonerated himself on the grounds that in his career he had “never disparaged politics or politicians” or “sought to undermine people in public life.”

His clean bill of health for himself sat uncomfortably with what became a rather odious spectacle as he used every opportunity to get a cheap laugh by putting the boot into Clare Short.

Hate figure

Paul Dacre, the Daily Mail editor, was his principal hate figure but time and again he went out of his way to express his contempt for the views of the former International Development Secretary, neatly forgetting that, unlike himself, she was after all a democratically-elected politician.

Campbell spoke eloquently about his training as a journalist in 1980 on the Mirror group scheme in Plymouth where he met his partner Fiona Millar; his enthusiasm shone through once he realised his future lay in journalism. Sadly he did not care to reflect on his own failure to show support and solidarity for the many valiant souls within the media industry who work so hard to enthuse the reporters of tomorrow and try to instil in them high ethical standards and a proper sense of fairness.

In his six and a half years he spent in Downing Street, first as Blair’s official spokesman and then as director of communications, Campbell had an unparalleled opportunity to help raise the standards of political journalism.

He could have done his bit to drive up levels of accuracy and fairness by ensuring a level playing field for all political journalists at Westminster; he could have tried to counter to the growth in unsourced and exaggerated stories by insisting that he, and the rest of the party spin doctors under

his control, always spoke on the record whenever possible and went out of their way to ensure that their own quotes were properly attributed.

Commercial pressures

Instead Campbell took advantage of the commercial pressures which have driven down journalistic standards. He exploited the demand for exclusives by offering access and interviews in return for favourable coverage; he encouraged the trade in off-the-record tip offs; he destroyed what trust remained between the lobby and Downing Street; and he undermined the authority of the Speaker by blatantly trailing ministerial statements before they were announced in Parliament.

Control over the flow of information from the government to the media became Campbell’s personal fiefdom. For example, as the Hutton Inquiry confirmed, he chose the six journalists who were the first to be given exclusive copies of the second, so called “dodgy” dossier on Iraq.

At the height of his efforts to “f***” Andrew Gilligan, he was overheard suggesting to Geoff Hoon that the news that the source had come forward should “be given that evening to one paper.”

Campbell was only too anxious to assist those journalists who were hell bent on outing Dr David Kelly and who showed a complete disregard for the NUJ’s code of conduct and the requirement that journalists should “protect confidential sources of information.”

No political correspondent would have had any doubts about the likely recipient of Campbell’s hot tip about Gilligan’s source; it would, of course, have been The Times, which along with the rest of Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers enjoyed a steady stream of exclusives bearing Campbell’s imprimatur.

In view of the one-way traffic from Downing Street to News International it came as no surprise to hear Campbell use his Royal Festival Hall appearance to salute Murdoch as “probably the most powerful and influential media owner” in the country.

In describing his new life as a sports columnist, Campbell said he had taken his own “journalistic wares” to The Times because it was the “straightest dealing” paper which he had to deal with when he was in Downing Street.

Racist taunts

When it come to the reasoning behind his outburst in The Times against the racist taunts which he had heard during the recent Milwall v Burnley match, Campbell failed to see the mote in his own eye.

His compere for the evening was Ross Kemp, whose partner The Sun editor Rebekah Wade was in the audience. Unfortunately our doughty defender of journalistic standards failed to rise to the occasion and remind Ms Wade that it is scare stories about asylum seekers in newspapers like The Sun which top up a well of the racism that find its voice among certain football supporters.

I agree with Campbell that political correspondents must be held to account. Our failings may well have contributed to declining levels of trust in the democratic process. That being the case, I would love nothing more than a chance to debate this with him.

If given the chance, I would seek to justify the assertion which I have made repeatedly in my books and articles that Campbell’s regime in the No.10 press office aided and abetted the decline in standards which he complains of.

However, on this issue, I know what his response will be: a firm “No”. I have heard him rehearse his answer on so many occasions: he would not waste his breath addressing all that rubbish that I have written about spin and the process of political communication.

No Alastair it won’t wash. If you want my opinion, I think you are frit when it comes to examining your own conduct. I heard your appeal for “a more honest debate” about the “sourness and cynicism in the coverage of politics.”

You condemn political journalists for their “culture of negativity.” What about your own negativity towards journalism? You had your chance to help journalists uphold the first rule in the NUJ’s code of conduct -- that of maintaining the “highest professional and ethical standards” -- and in my opinion you blew it.

This article first appeared in The Journalist (NUJ, London)

Global Journalism Review