Mainstream and blog as close partners

Today's Western Mail contains more evidence that the mainstream media and the world of blogging are feeding off each other, if a little tensely at times !. North Wales Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom has been blogging over recent weeks and I am sure he has found it a very useful way of generating some debate in the media, even hostile reaction. Today's Western Mail is not all sweetness and light :

A simple, naive media? Come off it BrunstromSep
21 2006
Western Mail

North Wales chief constable Richard Brunstrom thinks the media is giving him too hard a time. Well, asks Political Editor Tomos Livingstone, shouldn't he do a bit more to help himself?

RICHARD BRUNSTROM is probably the best-known policeman in Britain - I bet more people know his name than that of Sir Ian Blair, the man who runs the Metropolitan Police.

He made his name with a war on speeding drivers, and yesterday he opened up a new front: a war on the press.

Mr Brunstrom, writing on his blog on the North Wales Police website, said TV news was 'an insult to our intelligence' and the rest of the media 'crave sensationalism and controversy for its own sake'.

Crikey. One wonders if this was the same Mr Brunstrom who dispatched officers to Downing Street after allegations that Tony Blair said something nasty about the Welsh. Perhaps he's forgotten that the only reason those claims came to light was because they were leaked to the Mail on Sunday newspaper.

And this is the same chief constable who called in the press back in 2003 to launch an on-camera attack on a pensioner who had complained about a speeding fine. I remember feeling my intelligence wasn't being given much respect that day either.

Mr Brunstrom owes his title of top-recognised cop - or Prif Copyn to give him his recently-adopted Bardic name - largely due to his ability to get his message across in the media. Because his views are often controversial (and not for their own sake either), he succeeds.

But now this is what he thinks are the problems of the media.

'First, the media's naive and simplistic wish to provide 'balance', which leads to equal airtime for flat-earthers on any topic you care to name despite the weight of evidence.

'Second, they crave sensationalism and controversy for its own sake, often based on out-of-context and simplistic soundbites. This has had a dreadfully debilitating effect on media standards.'

The future, he says is the internet rather than the 'skewed and jaundiced' newspapers and TV.

Relations between police and the press everywhere have always been strained. Most officers know they need some help from the press to solve crime, but are traditionally cagey about giving away too much. Journalists often have to employ a lot of skill (old fashioned stuff like building contacts and asking questions - it's very effective) to get information from forces that are now institutionally secretive.

In North Wales this has got a long way out of hand. On one weekend in August, we know, thanks to the Freedom of Information Act - and journalists at our sister paper the Daily Post in North Wales asking questions - that 1,577 incidents were recorded, but the only ones the press were told about in response to queries were a road accident and a charity race.

Mr Brunstrom thinks it's better to use the internet to get his corporate message across. Fine - why not put a lot more information about real crimes and stories on the website then? And the 'traditional' media might not be so hostile if the police were more helpful.

Swirling in the midst of his attack on the press there is an interesting debate to be had; yes, more people use the internet to get their news - but traditional media brands are still often more reliable and can offer much more.

There is a problem too with the fabled 'balance' on broadcast news in particular - but Mr Brunstrom can't really complain, given that he has benefited from the need to offer opposing views. His position on drugs and on speeding are not exactly mainstream within the police force.

I'm sure he wouldn't just want the Government view on drugs on the TV news every time - and neither should anyone else.

And yes, 24-hour news has led to too many talking heads spouting forth about whatever the topic is, instead of new information.

But Mr Brunstrom's attack just isn't coherent enough to make sense. He's taking a gamble that most people will agree with him, but his experience should teach him that has rarely turned out to be the case".