On the media

The big story in the UK (or at least in Westminster) is the phone hacking scandal and new lines of inquiry are still being opened up. Today the noise on Twitter is that while he was editor of News of the World Andy Coulson paid the Conservative bigwig William Hague 200,000 a year for a weekly column. Coulson later joined the Conservative administration as Prime Minister's spokesman.

It's all slightly nebulous but it certainly doesn't feel right does it? £4000 for a (short) article is preposterous money.

So what has this got to do with our normal fare here at BH? Well, in the wake of the BBC's report on science coverage, I was struck by the revelation that the wife of the report's author makes television programmes for a living. Repeating myself, it's all slightly nebulous, but it doesn't feel right, does it?

Comments

[Hengist McStone]

Apropos the head post, yes it's a bit nebulous because not least Normas work hasnt been on anything to do with climate . Still, pointing it out helps to stoke up the paranoia factor I suppose. I for one am slightly uncomfortable with the awkward fact that Monbiot's cousin is Dominic Lawson and through him he is related to TVMOB ;-)

[pat]

hro001 -

there's also this...but the pro-CAGW crowd will never admit what is blindingly obvious to anyone who has actually read or watched Murdoch's media...cos it doesn't suit their purpose!

2007: CNN: Marc Gunther: Rupert Murdoch’s climate crusade
News Corp.’s campaign against global warming includes free light bulbs, subsidized hybrids and babes in green, reports Fortune’s Marc Gunther
http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/14/news/companies/pluggedin_gunther_murdoch.fortune/index.htm

[Roy]

Sadly I find myself disagreeing with you on both points. But £200,000/year for a column can't be judged in terms of the effort Hague put in; it has to be judged in terms of the value Coulson got out. If he reckoned he got at least that much value from Hague's effort then Hague had no reason to further enrich Coulson by declining some fraction of the fee. Professional footy works the same way.

[Alexander K]

Why does Hengist set my teeth on edge? It's not just his trollery, but his deliberate attempts at faux stupidity are wearing in the extreme. Martin Brumby's response accurately defines the COI problem Dr Jones has been placed in very nicely and in terms even Hengist can understand, but of course Hengist has ignored that and gone straight for wildly irrelevant sledging.
I have taught boys with similar traits, who would ask deliberately stupid and irrelevant questions to delay the inevitable test, while the rest of the class groaned in frustration; all of those boys came to bad ends, such as having to tolerate careers as low-level civil servants doing menial tasks for remote local authorities in locations which even the adventurous shun.