Posted on July 21, 2011 by Phillip Lee

Some journalists have long relied upon the defence of ‘in the public interest’ to obtain information by disreputable means. The alleged bribes to police officers, the tapping and hacking of telephones and the rummaging through of domestic waste bins has been all be ‘justified’ by journalists because of their belief that the  ‘public deserves to know’. To know what exactly? I had no interest in whether the murder victim, Milly Dowler, had contacted her parents after disappearing, or not. Neither did I want to read reports about the understandable emotions of the parents of the 7/7 bomb victims sourced from their private conversations with friends and family. Who did? The shocking details of the hacking story have, I suspect, upset the wider public greatly. What should be our response?

At last week’s PMQs, David Cameron implied that the hacking story had now ‘crossed the line’. He suggested that hacking into the telephones of public figures, e.g. politicians and film stars, was one thing, to hack into the telephones of murder victims and the relatives of the deceased was abhorrent. Personally, I disagree. Hacking into anyone’s telephone is wrong. I do not see why it is acceptable for a public figure to be subjected to such an invasion of privacy. During a BBC interview last week, one of the parents of a ‘7/7 victim’ agreed with me. He admitted that the hacking story had not seemed so important when it involved ‘just’ MPs and Sienna Miller. Having now experience it himself, he accepted that hacking of any kind was wrong. This is good news. A public appetite for resetting boundaries of decency that apply to us all, irrespective of our roles in society, is long overdue.

When I arrived in Westminster last year, I was immediately struck by the ‘close’ relationship between some MPs and journalists.  As someone used to valuing a strictly professional relationship between doctor and patient, I was surprised by the relaxed manner. Stories traded between both sides seemed the order of the day. It all seemed a bit too close to me. Of course, politicians need to communicate their opinions. That does not mean, however, that the relationship shouldn’t be on a more professional footing. I fear that in becoming too close, politicians have now become slaves to the media beast. This has been further exacerbated by the 24 news agenda. The widely shared view is that you have to control the message so you have to give the journalists what they want, when they want it. I’m not so sure anymore. In a world where people increasingly get their news from diverse sources, the power of the traditional media is waning. To my mind, for politicians to survive in this new environment, the only way to be is straightforward and honest because if you are not you will be found out. Hence, I hope that the hacking story will have a positive outcome. The days of politicians needing to cavort with the devil may be over.