Journalism

Exploiting Charlie Hebdo To Attack Civil Liberties

Samuel Hooper11 Comments

 

It is a dirty yet utterly predictable paradox that the terrorist attacks in Paris, which saw so many people flock to the banner of free speech, are even now being exploited by conniving politicians to crack down on our other, equally cherished civil liberties such as the right to privacy.

Once you have seen enough television news reports and read enough commentary to confirm and reinforce your entirely appropriate horror and outrage at the terrorist atrocities in Paris this week, therefore, it is well worth taking some more time out of your schedule to watch at least some of the video above.

Attempting to start a meaningful conversation about the root causes of Islamist terrorism is, apparently, highly unseemly and inappropriate so soon after an attack. And yet those who make this claim never explain why talking about the root causes of Islamist terrorism in its immediate aftermath is opportunistic and wrong, while conveniently it happens to be the perfect time for governments to demand sweeping, draconian new powers. And yet that is exactly what we now see.

As this blog recently noted:

https://twitter.com/SamHooper/status/553967074696265729

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Quote For The Day

Samuel Hooper2 Comments

 

“Every time you silence somebody you make yourself a prisoner of your own action, because you deny yourself the right to hear something.”

The late Christopher Hitchens, addressing an audience on the ever-important subject of freedom of speech.

Je Suis Charlie Hebdo

Samuel Hooper3 Comments

Jesus And Mo Nous Sommes Charlie Hebdo JeSuisCharlieHebdo

 

And so 2015 begins as 2014 ended – with another murderous terrorist attack on a western city, this time targeting journalists, cartoonists and satirists at the offices of the magazine Charlie Hebdo. For too many people, bereaved family and friends of the twelve victims, this will not be a happy new year.

Having been ill since the start of the year, your blogger was late to hear of the grotesque carnival of violence that played out in Paris on the morning of 7 January. Since that terrible moment, others have already offered moving and stirring words in response, far better than I. But the purported reasons for the targeting of Charlie Hebdo make it important for this blog to take a stand against the noxious idea that the mere act of depicting anybody, religious or otherwise, should be cause for the the huge amount of offence-taking, consternation and hand-wringing that it still is in the year 2015.

The following are therefore a selection of columns and responses that are informing this blog’s thinking at present, and then some closing thoughts.

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Lessons In Journalism, Populism And Diversity At ITN London (Extended Feature Version)

Samuel HooperLeave a comment

ITN CDN Open Day semipartisansam 004

 

I walked through a doorway, found myself standing in the ITV National News studio, and for a moment I was shocked to realise that I didn’t recognise the space at all.

Not because of the floor-to-ceiling green screen backdrop and the absence of the computer-generated background – the final version, familiar to viewers, was displayed on a monitor to the side – but because I hadn’t deliberately or consciously watched the ITV News in more than a decade. The news desk, the set, the logo – nothing seemed familiar or evoked the old ITV I remembered from the late 1990s.

I’m a voracious reader and consumer of domestic and international news. In fact, I’m currently embarking on a side career in political journalism. And yet I was somehow completely untuned from one of Britain’s main news outlets. Should that be cause for concern?

Then came another shock. As our tour group wound its way through the humming newsroom, quite by chance I found myself standing behind a bona fide news celebrity – veteran broadcaster and news presenter Alastair Stewart – as he sat at his workstation, deep in conversation with colleagues sitting at identical high-tech hotdesks in the middle of the newsroom floor. Gosh, I thought, thinking back on his many years presenting London Tonight, I didn’t know he was still working.

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Lessons In Journalism, Populism And Diversity At ITN London

Samuel HooperLeave a comment

ITN CDN Open Day semipartisansam 004

 

I walked through a doorway, found myself standing in the ITV National News studio, and for a moment I was shocked to realise that I didn’t recognise the space at all.

Not because of the floor-to-ceiling green screen backdrop and the absence of the computer-generated background – the final version, familiar to viewers, was displayed on a monitor to the side – but because I hadn’t deliberately or consciously watched the ITV News in more than a decade. The news desk, the set, the logo – nothing seemed familiar or evoked the old ITV I remembered from the late 1990s.

I’m a voracious reader and consumer of domestic and international news. In fact, I’m currently embarking on a side career in political journalism. And yet I had somehow become untuned from one of Britain’s main news outlets. Should that be cause for concern?

The reason I was deep inside ITN’s London newsroom at all is thanks to an invitation to attend the Creative Diversity Network open day, one of many similar events being held around the country where major broadcasters (Sky, BBC, CNN, ITN and others) open their doors to give people from ethnic and socially diverse backgrounds the taste of a career in TV journalism. My invitation came through Poached Creative, the social enterprise with whom I trained earlier this year.

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