Regional newspaper editor Peter Barron has taken Prince Harry to task for talking of the "rubbish" British press.
The prince was "disappointingly arrogant" and "wrong to generalise" responded Barron, editor of the Northern Echo, in a blog posting. and warned him not to tar the local and regional press with the same brush.
Barron conceded that "there are elements of the British press which are rubbish" but pointed out that "local newspapers… perform a great public service: exposing wrong-doing; campaigning for communities; fund-raising for charities; championing all kinds of causes."
So, wrote Barron:
"It would have been nice if Prince Harry had resisted getting out his huge tar brush to blacken the entire British press and acknowledged that there are good and bad in every profession – including the armed forces."
RG Comment: I am sure no-one thought for a moment that the prince had local papers in mind when he was speaking. But Barron's riposte reminds us that the drip-drip-drip of anti-media statements by the great and good (and not-so-good) tends to undermine the press as a whole.
Newspaper Society president Adrian Jeakings made a similar point last October when criticising the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, for his generalised remark about the press as "desperate animals around a disappearing waterhole."
Source: Northern Echo Hat tip: HoldTheFrontPage
