Commentary is now more important than reporting

The Observer this moning carries an interview with John Lloyd and Julia Hobsbawn ahead of the publication of their new book,The Power of the Commentariat.

The book examines just how much influence political opinion writers have upon British life.

a task more difficult now because of a vast array of media and other
competitors for time and interest. But it is also the case that British
newspaper commentary is among the liveliest, most combative and sharpest in the
world; that it is now seen by editors and owners as more important than
reporting, at least as measured in the amount of money paid to commentators as
against that paid to reporters.

And interestingly some of the commentators believe that they have influence

Melanie Phillips of the Daily Mail says that her warnings on the threat of militant Islam might have convinced civil servants that it was a more serious problem than they had believed; Nick Cohen of The Observer and London's Evening Standard thinks his columns on the same subject might have had the same effect. Peter Hitchens on the Mail on Sunday believes his position on cannabis 'has made it easier for politicians to backtrack on the downgrading' of it.

But others are less forthright

Timothy Garton Ash, the Oxford Professor of European Studies and regular Guardian columnist, says: 'I don't think seeking to influence is the first reason one writes. The first reason is to write something true and interesting. Second, it is to speak to your readers.

Well worth a read