English Yokel

Yokel wonders about the morals of the major national newspapers. They insist on taking unattributable briefings themselves for the parliamentary lobby correspondents, but refuse to give others the same breathing space. The Times takes out Nightjack, reporting that DC Richard Horton of Lancashire Police has received a written warning for his blogging. Three or four weeks earlier, The Independent wrote an article in which they said: "Jack Night's identity is known to The Independent but we have agreed not to reveal anything apart from the fact that he is a detective constable, aged in his mid-40s. His force area and his real name remain a secret." Why was it so difficult for the Times to do the same? Yokel leaves you to design your own theory.

But this is all the more reason, dear reader, to go to this post, and make your own copies of both the links. At this rate, we may all need the information some time soon.

While Nightjack's blog has been taken down, it is still possible to read some of his posts by opening the google search engine and putting this into the search box:

http://nightjack.wordpress.com site:nightjack.wordpress.com

In the yahoo search engine just put this as the search term:

http://nightjack.wordpress.com

In each case be sure to click on the cached link, not on the main or usual link.

Yokel did not post the search links directly, because there seems to be sufficient data in there to show who you copied the link from. Let CyberPlod work out details like that for himself.

Pretty much shows that the nouveau establishment (ACPO Ltd) react visciously when crossed. Probably explains why World Weary Detective got out when he could.

UPDATE

It seems that MetCountyMounty has gone the same way, deleted all his posts and left a farewell note. Yokel didn't read too much of his posting when it was around, just never got round to it. Now Yokel is wishing he had. Still the cache method will work for a while. Enter:

site:sheepdogsandwolves.blogspot.com as the search term in google. His layout doesn't print too well, probably needs a copy and paste into a word processing program if you want to make a copy for yourself.

UPDATE 2

Of course the Humbert Wolfe quote is getting around at present: You cannot hope to bribe or twist (thank God!) the British journalist. But, seeing what the man will do unbribed, there's no occasion to.

Another quote that deserves a bit of an airing just now is from Hunter S Thompson, an American journalist. He is reported to have said: If I'd written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people -- including me -- would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.

Playboy journalists should consider the potential effects of their actions before acting. Real life doesn't have a "replay" button.