we have the most negative, anti-politics media in the world

Some remarks form Alastair Campbell on the political media in this country

I travel a fair bit still and I would reckon we have the most negative, anti-politics media in the world. We also have the most introspective. Even amid the recognition that the current economic crisis is global in cause, scale, and solution, coverage here tends to focus on Britain, and in particular Britain's political leaders.

He compares the French media and asks

Imagine how the UK news would have been yesterday if roughly the same number of people who marched against the war in Iraq had marched through the streets of London to protest at GB's handling of the economic situation.

A Good piece from Iain Dale where he relates Alistair Campbell's conversation with former Labour leader Neil Kinnock.They are talking about Tony Blair's relationship with Rupert Murdoch.

“

You imagine what it’s like having your head stuck in a fuc*ing light bulb and then tell me what it’s like seeing him jet half way round the world to grease him up. You’ll get his support and a few racist basta*ds and then you’ll lose it again the moment you’re in trouble…….”

There has been a decline ,but I'm not to blame

Have just listened to Alistair Campbell's grilling by John Humphy's on the Today programme.You can listen to the full interview,but it really turned into a battle of wills between the two.

Humphry's in particular had axe to grind.He was at the centre of the David Kelly affair being in the hot seat when Andrew Milligan was being interviewed.Campbell thought that he should be one of the four people to be sacked following the Hutton enquiry.

The main argument though was Humphry's insistence that Campbell was to blame for the dumbing down and trivialisation of political reporting. Not true says Campbell,there has been a decline but I am not to blame.

CANNOT WAIT FOR THE BOOK

Thanks to Martin Stabe for directing me to an interview with Alastair Campbell on Public Service Radio-here are some snippets


Press was there pure and simply to get the party message,they reacted bdly when they realised they could not set the agenda.

One of the reasons he left was to try and divert some of the poison that had been created around the Blair government

The media has a "Culture of negativity"

He denies he created spin,it has always been around and what changed was the advent of 24hr news.which meant that the political message had to be managed in a professional way.