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British media a 'feral beast'
12/06/2007 17:22 - (SA)
London - British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Tuesday the country's media sometimes resembled "a feral beast, just tearing people and reputations to bits".
Blair, bemoaning the deterioration in the relationship between the government and the media during his decade in office, said it needed to be repaired.
He told journalists he found the media increasingly driven by competition for controversy and sensation, and that the problem was compounded by the proliferation of new media.
"I do believe this relationship between public life and the media is now damaged in a way that requires repair," he said.
"The damage saps the country's confidence and self-belief; it undermines its assessment of itself and its institutions; and above all it reduces our capacity to take the right decisions in the right spirit for the future."
Blair said fragmentation and intense competition had driven journalists to seek ever more sensational stories that have impact.
'A feral beast'
"It is this necessary devotion to impact that is unraveling standards, driving them down, making the diversity of the media not the strength it should be but an impulsion to sensation above all else," Blair said.
"Scandal or controversy beats ordinary reporting hands down. Attacking motive is far more potent than attacking judgment. It is not enough for someone to make an error, it has to be venal, conspiratorial."
When it operates in a pack, Blair said, the media "is like a feral beast, just tearing people and reputations to bits. But no one dares miss out".
Blair, who leaves office on June 27, noted that there are several agencies that regulate broadcasters, the press and other media - a situation that he said was "increasingly irrational".
'An open question'
He said: "The regulatory framework at some point will need revision.
"As the technology blurs the distinction between papers and television, it becomes increasingly irrational to have different systems of accountability based on technology that can no longer be differentiated in the old way.
"How this is done is an open question but at some point the system is going to change."
- AP
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