Former Daily Star reporter Rich Peppiatt showcases a gift for Michael Mooreish rabble-rousing in this scattershot contribution to the post-Leveson landscape. An initial, imaginatively archived history of journalism, hurtling from His Girl Friday to the Milly Dowler/Madeleine McCann fallout, describes a mostly unarguable decline in editorial standards, backed up by testimony from those at the heart of the hacking story (Steve Coogan, Hugh Grant) and industry observers (including the Guardian’s Nick Davies and Roy Greenslade). Elsewhere, a fondness for tabloidy pranks and stunts – sourcing nudie footage of jailed News of the World filth-monger Neville Thurlbeck, hacking Kelvin MacKenzie’s texts, delivering dildos to Paul Dacre – only leaves one wondering whether two ethical wrongs can ever make a right. They’re pure payback – Peppiatt’s way of courting the baying stalls, even as he stoops to the level of his targets.
