You need more than a phone hacking enquiry to teach the press to be responsible

It is a misfortune and an indictment of our society that we allow powerful institutions to get away with a mere slapped hand. Why did it take a financial meltdown for us to realise that the banking system was being run like a blue Premier League club with title aspirations? Why did it take an expenses scandal to realise that politicians were spending our taxes like players from said blue teams? And why are we punishing the press on a single issue, when two prior experiences have taught us that power without regulation is a catastrophic calamity waiting to happen?

The Prime Ministers remit on phone hacking will result in yet another piecemeal addition of media legislation. For the media in the UK and elsewhere, we observe court law and try not to defame or write slanderous comments, but elsewhere we are unobserved in a self regulated frenzy. So when a single issue gains enough hype, then we spend 12 months in an attempt to review it, again falling prey of the short-sightedness that let us overlook the misuse of power elsewhere. As Parliament erupted in a debate that centred on none issues, it was utterly painful to see our governing heads discuss slumber parties rather than address the need for a cultural reform. If it were delayed by a week, then they may have been able to act upon another dose of fatal hindsight, after Norway was gripped with a politically motivated catastrophe. The lesson now seems clear: fail to correctly regulate the media, and our own right wing threat may unfold.

Europe’s new xenophobic threat, if only new in application, has brought the new right wing movement to a fore, and in doing so, devastated a liberal minded country. With echoes of British National front politics back on our shore, the (political) hype surrounding The English Defence League is alarming. But yet any of us who observe the sensationalist endeavours of our press could hardly be surprised that radical movements are on the rise. The documented banal insinuations that Islam is to blame, and the repetitious purging of fact is second hand trash in any hand of the public. If we continue to process news as we would a sitcom, then sensationalism will be complimented with radicalism.

In a responsible society, the media would lead the way in combating such issues. There would be a multicultural team complimenting a free thinking editor, conscientious and sensitive towards societal threat. After all, if the press were acting decently on the whole, the independent boards we now solely rely on would be incorporated under our so called 4^th estate. Investigative journalism covering real issues, such as the expenses claims, should be a beacon of light rather than the subject of a shameful trial. We don’t need phone hacking reform, we need cultural reform. Call me an idealist, but shouldn’t we be educated enough, shouldn’t we have observed enough hindsight to address these issues and progress into the 21^st century?