Michael Jackson programme ..

[bundle]

..is on tonight, where he's being followed by Martin Bashir including around the infamous hanging the baby from the balcony incident (on Tonight..with Trevor MacDonald) - so don't forget to watch it should be a hoot
(I'm off out so I've just left an ansaphone message for dh to record it )

Martin Bashir is just like all the journalists I've ever known - and no offence to any journalists out there, this is just my own personal experience. They pretend to be all pally with you, really empathetic and trustworthy, just to draw out all the stuff you wouldn't normally tell anyone, then they go and write really nasty things about you. It's an age-old trick but it still stinks and is the reason why I could never, ever do that job.

Rhubarb, I don't know how many journalists you've known but I certainly don't know any like Martin Bashir. Me & dh (both journalists) watched bits of the MJ programme on C5 and tutted at Bashir's oily, buttering up questions/comments which were obviously designed to flatter and loosen the tongue.. I work in broadcasting and would never say anything on tape which I'd find embarrassing if played back to me later. Maybe it's because I work in a completely different field (factual stuff, medical/scientific) I find Bashir's technique so abhorrent, but my training taught me to keep professional distance and not to mislead interviewees/the audience. I'd like to think most of my colleagues are like me but know that many eg print journalists do take quotes out of context and - as demonstrated by Bashir - so do some broadcasters, by trixy editing. I enjoy my job & feel I'm helping people by giving them balanced information so they can make up their own minds about a subject.

Of course Martin Bashir would pretend to be all pally to get MJ to let him into his live! But MJ certainly wasn't forced to say anything against his will, so I really don't see how he can now complain about having been misrepresented.
I feel really sorry for his children, who, no doubt, will become as screwed up as their father one day!

To be fair, I have seen both programmes on MJ, and after the first one, I was all for taking his kids away, lock him up etc etc, now after seeing the 2nd one on skyone, he was no-where near as bad as the first one. I still think he was wrong to dangle baby blanket and have kids in his bed, but think he is a big kid, but weird and halmless basically,

Rhubarb, I'm sure you're a very nice person, but as another journalist, I do get a bit fed up with the number of people who write us all off with sweeping generalisations. We're not all tabloid sleazemongers ? I work in quite a "soft" area of the media and would certainly never butter someone up to get a quote out of them, then twist it round to show them up in a bad light ? nor would any of the people I work with. Far from it, we usually go out of our way to report fairly without offending anyone.

Frieda I did say that I didn't want to cause offence to any other journalists out there and that it was based purely on my own experience. However surely most journalists know that the way to get a good story is to get your subject to trust you and like you? Isn't that what interviewers do all the time? I'm sure not everyone goes as far as MB did - that really was bottom-licking at it's best!

Well I for one have a lot of respect for the journalists I know (working for either the Beeb or broadsheets) and I think the media often does a great job of exposing scandal, government hypocrisy etc which we would otherwise never get to know about. I never understand why so many people seem to have such a low opinion of journalists and yet you only have to look at the circulation of papers such as News of the World and the Sun against the Guardian and Independent etc let along gossipy mags etc. If people are so upset by the guttersnipe press, why do they buy it? It’s all about supply and demand after all.

But Rhubarb ? didn't you say recently that you?d agreed to be interviewed for a story in Best? Don't really understand this if you think journalists are underhand, or is this the triumph of hope over experience?

I also interview celebs rarely (used to do it quite often) and often talk to cardiologists, psychologists, 'real people' etc etc. It is very different. Celebrity interviews are a bit odd,mainly because celebrities are usually more than a bit odd. They expect fantastic levels of arse-licking ('what did you think of my film" - 'er, it was a bit boring' won't go down well!) and lie to you like you wouldn't believe ('I don't take drugs' 'My marriage is solid' 'We never dated'. And when you print the truth - ie, what they actually said, they go ballistic because they expect you to lie for them. I have lost count of the times I have had agents on the phone shouting at me because I have asked if press reports of their marriage break up are true - then two weeks later they file for divorce! Celebs are used to cringing levels of deference. If you went in and asked direct questions you'd last five minutes. I think it is an entirely different protocol for real people and I have never, ever had a complaint from anyone that I have misquoted or misrepresented them. We all butter people up and fib. After all, if you went for a job interview, you'd say, 'I really, really want to work for your company. I think you do great work and it seems a blah blah organisation.' And you lie a bit too, ie: 'I got on well with all my former colleages and am only looking for a new job for greater challenges.' I don't think that's immoral, I think it is sensible! I didn't see the second MJ show, but as MJ clearly lied and lied (2 ops!!!) I hardly think the wickedness is all on one side.

Frieda - I have done an interview for Best, on the condition that I see the article before it goes to print. It is from that very story that I was 'bitten' by a local journalist pretending to be sympathetic and friendly, and what she wrote was just horrible and upsetting. A friend of mine also fell for the same trick by a Daily Mail reporter who also sympathised with her story, was very friendly and appeared honest with her, she really thought he understood the situation and 'got it'. But the story came out very differently indeed. Certainly with me it is a case of one bitten twice shy. I guess any kind of people can be like that, but when it is in print or on the telly, it can turn out quite bad indeed. Journalists have such a responsibility, it is a shame that some of them abuse that. I hate the way the tabloid sees itself as judge and jury in a lot of cases. Hardly any trial in Britain that is reported on now can be seen as fair, as everyone has read the biased reports beforehand.
Think of all the careers the tabloid press have ruined on nothing more than accusations and allegations. At the start of the John Leslie fiasco there were about 40 women queuing up to accuse him, only 3 went to the police, and now because of lack of evidence he is to be released, but it has cost him his home and his career.
I'm sure all Mumsnet journalists are fine though!

Yeah but JL's home is coming down not because of his, questionable, behaviour, but because he decided to build a whopping great big extension that paid no attention to the plans that had been approved. He obviously thought that his celebrity status would see him through.