Berlusconi

The lowly but heroic journalist tracking down the truth and revealing it to the public, shining a light into the darkest corners of society and shouting to the rest of us "Look! Look what I've found!" It's a naive, romantic idea but I love it, I think we all do.

Perhaps the most applaudable role of the journalist is that of the white blood cell, when those in authority abuse their power or make a mistake the media point it out and society as a whole can only benefit from this. Checks and balances.

I think this is why I've been so interested in the rumours and accusations that have been flying through the Italian press about Silvio Berlusconi. Regardless of whether he is guilty of any wrong doing or not, he's running a country and his laundry should be whiter than white when the press snoops through it. It can only be a good thing that he is subject to the same laws and now the same consequences as any of his citizens.




It's doubly important because Berlusconi is a media mogul himself and that's a dangerous thing. I don't personally believe someone should have the ability to set the news agenda and then profit from it. Men like Berlusconi and Rupert Murdoch have the power to influence governments, we should constantly be looking at them and asking ourselves what are their motivations? Is what they are doing right? Any change in law that makes them more accountable is a breath of fresh air.

And it's great to see that the Italian press (and specifically the publications not owned by Berlusconi) are doing well from the whole fiasco as well.

The Papers 08/10

As well as the papers, I try to catch the Today show on BBC Radio 4 whenever I can. If nothing else I think I'm learning a lot about having an aggressive interview style and not letting the interviewee dictate the agenda. In particular, I enjoy James Naughtie's style.

So, the papers. The biggest stories today seem to be the Royal Mail strikes (in the Telegraph and accompanied horribly on the front page of the Guardian with an ugly moist close up of a letter box), Sharon Shoesmith's challenge of her dismissal and continuing coverage of the Tory party conference.

The tabloids have thrown in a few good unique headlines that broaden the scope of coverage. The Daily Express scaring us with claims that anti ageing creams might cause cancer and the sun has Robbie William's confession that he nearly died from drugs. A classic red top crowd pleaser, a well known and loved celebrity and a 'drugs are bad' message can't go wrong.

The coverage of the Sharon Shoesmith trial differs in the broadsheets and the tabloids. Both the Sun and the Daily Mail choosing to attack the council for initially supporting her before turning her into a scapegoat. The Times and Guardian both emphasising her revelation that she considered suicide. Regardless of whether it's true, she must really want to make herself appear the victim to make a personal confession like that.

Front page of the day goes to the Times for leading with Berlusconi and choosing a suitably morbid picture of Shoesmith in all black with a black background to go with their tag: 'Furore over baby P left me suicidal'. Now that Berlusconi has lost his Presidential immunity from prosecution it hails the start of more turmoil in Italy that will surely signal lost more headlines to come.

The Papers 05/10

Reading he papers is more than just a good habit for a journalism student to be in, when there aren't any in 20 years time we can annoy our kids and grand children about the good old days when everything wasn't online. Not that I'm planning to have grand children in 20 years time.

Anyway.

As well as reading two papers a day, whenever possible I'm going to grab all the papers together and compare their leads. Based on the front pages, which would I buy today?


The Independent - A lovely beach ball like picture of a stem cell and the story of how research is being 'driven out' of the UK. The left wing connotations of it being wrong and unfair are plain to see. Oh and Monty Python too, a bit of culture always sells well.

Daily Telegraph - Looking very blue today and not just the banner at the top. Boris Johnson has his comment 'I bet a fiver it wont be President Blair' and the main story is Cameron making promises. It's clear that almost everyone has accepted he'll be the next PM now, attacking benefit frauds is a nice safe bet, about the only people less defensible in the public eye are pedophiles. And lets face it, he doesn't want his name and pedophile in the same headline.

In an odd coincidence both the Daily Express and local Daily Echo are leading with breakthroughs in cancer research, albiet one in New York and the other at Southampton University. The Echo is celebrating Southampton FC's first big win of the season, if you're a fan then clearly this is the paper to get, which national would devote this much time to a fallen club? There are great niches that local papers can fill.

The Mirror wins the pun of the day award (by default!) with 'Fright Said Fred', the story being Gary Lineker and Freddie Flintoff being caught near a Taliban attack. Throw in some pictures of said celebrities in protective army gear and it's a winner. The Mirror is still keeping its celeb focus, I still haven't quite gotten over how many weeks in a row they managed to have Jordan on the front page.

But I think the best front page today has to be the Sun. They've managed to track down the mother of the child Elton John is trying to adopt and plastered a picture of her looking very much the victim with 'I wont let Elton take my baby!'. What a thief! What a villain! And that picture of him kissing the child is just creepy! Drama sells, celebrity drama doubly so.