Meedja on the Insanity Pills
Livingstone v. Gilligan: deathmatch!
Bob Piper's given a slap across the wrist to Iain Dale, following Dale's hurrah for a story by Andrew Gilligan, no less, claiming that Lee Jasper holds some kind of Vulcan death-grip on the London Development Agency and all its doings.
Piper's slamming Dale because he believes Ken Livingstone's response - in summary, "it's all bollocks, and Gilligan should be sacked" - is the end of the matter, and anyone who says otherwise has got right-wing egg all over their nasty right-wing face.
It's all getting quite dirty, with Livingstone demanding Gilligan's sacking (Westmonster can't remember the last time a senior polician called for the sacking of a named journalist). And given that the story relates to a company called Diversity International, we won't have to hold our breath before somebody plays the race card. Sigh.
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1 Comments
I do think that journalists should be more accountable for what they say. What I found most interesting about the recent Nigel Hastilow case was that he was able to say what he liked as a journalist yet his comments fall far short of what is expected of a parliamentary candidate. The truth of the matter is that comments made by journalists are read by large numbers of people and do hold a lot of sway. I think far more so than anything said by someone seeking a seat in the House.