Those of you who have been following the close contests in Strictly Come Dancing, and the epic fiasco of the semi-final, may have noticed that according to a number of newspapers I have ‘waded in’ to the controversy.
I wrote a letter to the Director General of the BBC asking that the number of votes cast for each couple, both in the semi-final and the final, be published under the Freedom of Information Act. Writing a letter doesn’t feel much like wading, but who am I to question journalistic licence?
The story was covered by the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Star (front page story in Tuesday’s paper) and the Daily Mail. I was slightly depressed to see one journalist in the Evening Standard “Londoner’s Diary” condemning my Christmas season efforts as a ‘waste of taxpayers’ money’. First of all, it cost no taxpayers’ money (save perhaps for the cost of a stamp), and secondly, the move highlighted a principle that licence payers should be entitled to know where all their votes go. It seems only reasonable that the process be made transparent, particularly after recent events.
It strikes me that politicians are constantly under fire for being ‘out of touch’, not residing in the world that people outside the Westminster bubble do. Yet when a parliamentarian takes an interest in TV shows that have attracted public attention, he is denounced for wasting time and money. It seems that we are both too aloof and not aloof enough. Of course those same journalists who carp at anyone engaging with issues outside politics often ignore the more serious projects people get involved in. My involvement in weeks of work on Beating the Retreat, a comprehensive cross-party eulogy of Brown’s ebbing constitutional reform agenda, along with real proposals to improve the relationship between Parliament and the Executive, were all but ignored by the media last week, even though they were press released in precisely the same way.
It was interesting too, to see the different ways in which the various newspapers covered Strictly Come Dancing the story. If you are a casual studier of the media, it may be of interest to look at my press release, and then at the articles, as linked above. Only my excellent regional newspaper the Western Morning News did it full justice. Maybe this can be the subject of another post.
Meanwhile, I hope that some Lordsoftheblog readers will see the value in parliamentarians using their prominent position to make a fuss over, even to make mischief with, matters that attract public interest. After all, when was the last time Daily Star readers got to hear about any member of the House of Lords doing anything? That particular paper is probably not very interested in the House’s rule (see my earlier post) that women should be “suitably attired”!
Merry Christmas!
You should be embarrassed by this post, but apparently your opinions and actions are driven by the tabloid press.
Ofcom is in place to deal with issues such as this – I would expect that a member of the upper house should have more important issues to deal with.
Regardless of what you think this cost, it actually cost a great deal more – Please read the post immediately before yours by the Baroness D’Souza. I hope you feel ashamed of yourself because some members of the Lords do actually care about important issues.
Dear Lord Tyler,
What an interesting post. I, for one, am all in favour of parliamentarians using their position to raise the profile of such issues.
Of course, in the Commons there are EDMs. I wonder if you thought these could be introduced in the Lords?
Merry Christmas and thank you for blogging,
Howridiculous.
I think you have a very good point, Lord Tyler; damned if you do and damned if you don’t. I think people will never be pleased!
I for one am happy to remain ‘aloof’ from reality TV as I can’t stand the stuff.
While I’m here I’d like to wish the noble Lords who blog here, and the other readers, a very merry Christmas and 2009.
Yes, I know it’s from Australia, but I think this will be pretty representative of what the average English-speaking person clicks on:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,,24780659-421,00.html
Hat Tip: Private Eye (1226), who finish the report…’who’s really to blame for such an insipid list – “readers and their low-brow tastes, or the editors, journalists and web editors who continue to push these tabloid stories on their masthead’s front pages?” ‘
Wishing a merry Christmas to all who make this site so wonderful! God help us all in 2009.
… well, I don’t know what all the rukus was about, never hit the press here, thank goodness … yet, to be sure, we are all so continuously distracted by all this inconsequential STUFF … rather, I watched a quasi-documentary film recently called ‘Bordertown’ about the appalling working conditions of factory workers in the ‘border towns’ between Mexico and the Unitied States of America. (Starring Jennifer Lopez, Martin Sheen, Antonio Bonderas…ask at your local video story … )
Rape, feminicide, and torture of hapless victims are ‘commonplace’ in Juarez, Mexico. Over 5000 ‘unnamed’ young women/girls have gone ‘missing’ over the past few years. Near 400 have been found in open air graves in the surrounding countryside.
This ‘issue’ gets very little coverage in the main stream media for a multitude of reasons. One: very cheap labour; two: neither politicians nor corporations want to rock the NAFTA boat (the North American Free Trade Agreement)by drawing ‘media’ attention to this FACT. Police aka ‘Government Officials’ actively DISCOURAGE ‘coverage’; three: women laborers are generally easier to ‘coral’ then their male equivalents; four: wages are $30 US per WEEK; five: who really CARES about seemingly illiterate ‘peasant’ women who are trying to better their lives for them Selves and their families?
To my mind, it puts the current ‘bail-outs’ bonanza – now all the rage amongst the financial/government communities – TO SHAME. For while THAT community continues to ‘play with itself’, thousands upon thousands of WOMEN worldwide continue to STRUGGLE, trying their best to SURVIVE in a cold cold COLD world DOMINATED by ‘company’ “men” who cheerfully poke and peck at computer buttons between tea breaks ….
… You get the picture.
And yes, this is the real deal.
REAL ‘Tell-A-Vision’…
Can we make 2009 better?
You tell me.
Lord Tyler
Could a counterargument not be made that tabloid frivolity such as this should not be dignified with a response by people of actual intelligence? Sometimes the best way to stop childish behaviour is to simply ignore it.