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Charlie Beckett

June 29th, 2007

Gas, petrol and nails

3 comments

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Charlie Beckett

June 29th, 2007

Gas, petrol and nails

3 comments

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

The media reporting of terror incidents like the possible bomb attempt in West London today is changing. I detect a greater care on the part of broadcasters to share the process of reporting with the audience. By this I mean that reporters seem to be taking more care to source their facts, to qualify everything and to admit what they don’t know. I heard a number of correspondents explaining how the police won’t say everything they know for security reasons. And that the authorities are releasing selected facts in a bid to help catch the alleged plotters. This is all good stuff, much better than a lot of the unattributed hysteria that surrounded the Heathrow bomb plot. I await the mornings papers to see if they have also adopted a more considered approach. If you are a journalist and interested in these issues contact me as we have a seminar with some senior public figures next week which might shed some light on how the media deals with these sensitive and complex incidents. polis@lse.ac.uk

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Charlie Beckett

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