The quality of local journalism

The local bloggers seem a bit upset about just how poor the local journalists are at investigating anything properly, so here's how it is for those who haven't fully realised :

'Follow The Money' is, as ever, key to understanding how it works.

Channel TV is a good place to start. This is a local franchise that exists purely to make money for the shareholders, like any other company. There is zero obligation to do anything useful or helpful for anyone other than those who stand to make a profit from it. If they could, they would happily just relay the programmes from ITV London in full, save for inserting local adverts - and rake in the cash. The only thing stopping that happy state of affairs is OFCOM regulation ensuring that a certain amount of News is produced.

So you own a local TV station money spinner and want to come up with a news programme? Much of it can be sport, which is dead easy to film and comment upon, nice and simple. The weather isn't going to be expensive to cover either, which just leaves the actual What's Happening Out There. Thankfully there is a vast pool of wannabe TV stars eager to appear on the screen as a stepping stone to fame and fortune in the UK and beyond, so it's easy enough to recruit these fresh faced pawns to go out and record local events, accidents, and hooray! - local politics is so easy! Simply stand in the Royal Square and point a camera at any local politician who wants to increase their profile to help their next election prospects!

There's no need to really question anything or probe into the real background to any story or issues, as they wouldn't want to ruffle any feathers. The main business of CTV is selling airtime. Adverts bring in the money. From successful businesses. Run by their fellow businessfolk. Who mix with them socially. A self perpetuating ruling class who stick together with no real loyalties but to their own bank balances, but who collectively act as The Establishment in effect, or The Oligarchy according to the bloggers - a term which is scoffed at in some quarters but if you fully appreciate how the island society hangs together, is entirely accurate whether you like it or not.

There is simply No Chance Whatsoever, and no motivation for, any attempt to cover political issues in any real depth or expose any wrongdoings by anyone in a position of power, on the whole. Unless someone somewhere has fallen out of favour, can be disposed of without comeback because they have no dirt on anyone else - then, in that case, they can really go to town on finishing them off. Then they can congratulate themselves on what great journalists they are. Maybe apply for an award.

The same applies to Channel 103fm radio. It's all about airtime, baby. The only reason they make any effort to be entertaining is to sell advertising space. It's Lowest Common Denominator stuff - no edgy music or variety; just inoffensive background muzak with some inane humour if they can find a mug DJ to supply some, keep the audience research listening figures high enough so that the sales team can go and sell airtime.

They also produce the bare minimum of local news to satisfy their licence conditions, with no wish to upset their customers - the business community. What, you thought the Audience were their customers?! Hell no, radio isn't a service for the listeners, the listeners are the PRODUCT - that enables the money to flow inwards and onwards to the shareholders.

The shareholders of a radio station are of course totally uninterested in radio. It's just a cash cow for them. When the licence for a local commercial station was first put out to tender, there were applications from groups who actually loved the whole concept of radio for what it was. Enthusiasts caught up in the glamour and excitement of music broadcasting to an appreciative audience. But, naturally, the local frequency was awarded to the applicants consisting of local oligarchs, conservative establishment politicians, and people who had already set up BBC Radio Jersey a decade earlier. Keep it in the family, you see?

Is the local press likely to be any different? No, of course not. Sell adverts, fill the rest of the pages with just enough easily found words and photos to keep the punters picking up each copy they print. And the mug punters love it! Over a hundred quid a year to buy a JEP every day they print one, killing a tree in the process. There's just enough reporting of local social events to engender some sense of 'bringing the community together' - or in other words establish a GroupThink effect to subtly brainwash the readers into all agreeing with the editors' outlook upon life. Perfect for those who don't want to think for themselves - they can just follow the herd as usual.

Journalism, what journalism? In a one horse race like Jersey's, there's no competitive need to beat the rivals to a scoop and gain more readers. In a large market the paper with the best stories wins for that day, keeping everyone on their toes. Journalists can actually do that journalist thing and go find real stories!

Competition works! (but the those in the game hate it, naturally - they'd much prefer an easy ride). In Jersey there is that easy ride, no competition, people simply subscribe to the JEP and pick it up each day regardless of what's in it! So the lazy reporters can simply cut and paste from the press releases handed to them on a plate. Bingo. Job done, no need to actually question anyone.

That's it for commercial journalism in Jersey. You either toe the line and keep the Ruling Class (the wealthy) happy if you want to remain in the island and employed, or out you go on the next boat or plane in the morning and try your luck in the Big Wide Real World instead.

Our only other source of paid journalism is from the BBC. Here the situation is different, because Following The Money leads us to a similar set of overpaid managers, but not to corporate shareholders - instead the whole setup is dedicated to the continuing to rake in money from the captive audience of unwitting licence feepayers, keeping the BBC Charter going, keeping Auntie Beeb alive, keeping the employees together. Don't rock this boat, chaps, it's a wonderful gravy train alright!

In Jersey the BBC trick is to produce cheap radio (presenters are ego maniacs who love the sound of their own voices and would do it for nothing if they were honest enough to admit it) by playing safe and dull music to the over 50s if they can get away with it, and for speech content there's a never ending supply of people eager to appear on the air. "Did you hear me on the radio the other day?" - "Oooh, you were very good!" etc.

There's no danger of the wheels falling off this juggernaut. The whole thing is so well set up that they have staff who actually fall for the whole 'public service' line, hook, sinker, etc., because there is some element of that. But mainly it's about keeping going, stay employed, keep it safe and don't rock the boat. If any decent programmes happen to rise to the top, then some National Pride can come into play too! Yay!! Aren't we lucky to have the BBC and their quality programmes?!

As usual, what is actually talked about amongst the normal everyday people of the island is completely different to what appears on any of the 'accredited media' offerings. At any social gathering, the state of the island and its management is always slated completely. Politicians are loathed. The media is derided. Yet, there's no evidence of this to an outsider who can only see or hear what is printed or broadcasted. The new age of media website comments allows some small amount of real feedback, but the outsider will only see a sanitised version, where dissenting views are made out to look like rantings of lone disaffected whingers. Any stories that could be really controversial don't allow public comments!

We were brought up to pity the poor unfortunates in the Commie countries where the media was overtly controlled propaganda, and be thankful how free we were. Is it really so different here after all? There may not be military government censor installed at each media outlet to adjust what the brainwashed plebs receive, but by the magic of social engineering the end result is pretty much similar.

If you want the truth, you'll have to get out there and find it for yourself, keep an ear to the ground where the truth can't be hidden. Thankfully the late 20th century brought us the internet to make that easier. The blogs and forums allow real facts to emerge, blinking, into the daylight at last. You'll still have to make an effort to look around and find it, but the truth is there if you can face it and honestly accept it. No wonder the paid media dismiss the bloggers as un-accredited and unworthy of attention. They're running scared

The quality of local journalism

April decision on Syvret case

Former Health Minister Stuart Syvret

AN attempt to get former Health Minister Stuart Syvret’s civil claim against the Chief Minister and Attorney General thrown out will be heard in April.

The former Senator is suing the Chief Minister, the States Employment Board, the States of Jersey and the Attorney General, because of an alleged criminal conspiracy which he claims forced him to resign as Health Minister.

Solicitor General Howard Sharp is trying to get the case against the four defendants thrown out.

UK judge Jonathan Sumption QC was in the Royal Court yesterday to set dates for the next hearing. He has given Mr Syvret until 28 February to gather all his evidence for the hearing on 26 April, which is expected to last for three days.

Article posted on 20th January, 2011 - 2.59pm

April decision on Syvret case

Syvret sues for unfair dismissal

Former Senator Stuart Syvret was in court today to prove he has a case to sue for unfair dismissal - but told Channel TV he fears he will not win if it goes to trial.

Mr Syvret is suing the Chief Minister, the Council of Ministers, The States Employment Board and the Attorney General for process that led to what he claims was 'unfair dismissal' from his role as Minister for Health and Social Services in 2007.

A directions hearing took place under Jonathan Sumption QC in relation to the Order of Justice filed by Mr Syvret at the end of last year.

In the States on Monday, Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur, who appears as a defendant in the proceedings, informed members that he had instructed the Solicitor General to apply for the case to be struck out on behalf of all the defendants.

Jonathan Sumption will be giving directions as to the further conduct of proceedings and the timing of a hearing of an application to strike out the case.

In his statement, the Chief Minister said: "The ability of the court to strike out proceedings is a mechanism to enable the early stopping of proceedings that have no real legal prospect of success. It is a decision generally taken on the documentation before the court and is only ordered in plain and obvious cases. I am advised by the Solicitor General that this is such a case."

At a hearing under Julian Clyde-Smith at the end of last year Mr Syvret was adamant that no local judge would meet the test of objectivity required, and asked that an external judge be brought in to hear the strike out application or the full trial should it go ahead.

It was then announced that Jonathan Sumption QC would be taking over the case in the New Year.

Jonathan Sumption, QC, has been involved in a string of high profile cases, most notably he represented the UK government in the Hutton inquiry into the death of David Kelly, the arms control expert; and in a class action brought by shareholders of Railtrack, the collapsed national railways infrastructure company.

Syvret sues for unfair dismissal

Former Senator appears in court

Jersey News, Jersey Local News, Jersey Latest News, News In Jersey - syvret

Former Senator Stuart Syvret appeared in Jersey's Magistrate's Court today after failing to attend yesterday.

He was due to appear on an outstanding contempt of court charge. Mr Syvret said he was under the understanding that he was exempt from appearing, considering his pending appeal. A warrant for his arrest was issued as a result, which has been dropped following his appearance today.

The case has now been adjourned for two months pending his appeal. A directions hearing is to take place in March under Sir Christopher Pitchers.

The Appeal:

Stuart Syvret is appealing the outcome of his data protection trial last year. He was found guilty of two data protection charges relating to a posting on his blog in March 2009 that included parts of a confidential police report into suspicions that a nurse at the General Hospital might be murdering patients.

The court found that his naming of the nurse had been neither in the public interest or in the interest of the detection or prevention of crime.

During the trial he also incurred three contempt of court charges, for which he was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison. He was also fined a total of £4,200 and ordered to pay a £10,000 contribution towards the cost of the prosecution. He was released on bail the following day pending his appeal.

The Order of Justice:

Another directions hearing, relating to his Order of Justice is due to take place under Jonathan Sumption QC on Wednesday.

In his Order of Justice Mr Syvret is suing the Chief Minister, the Council of Ministers, The States Employment Board and the Attorney General for the processes that led to what he claims was an unfair dismissal from his role of Minister for Health and Social Services in 2007.

Former Senator appears in court

Stuart Syvret, Jersey’s first political prisoner since the Nazis left

The Guardian is carring a long first extract from Treasure Islands today. One of the characters who appears in the article is Jerseyman Stuart Syvret, a popular but controversial Jersey politician. He’s read the Guardian article, and sent me this email this morning:

Well done re the piece in today’s Guardian. It’s so important to keep up the pressure on all of these rotten oligarchies that control these island jurisdictions around the world.

I’m increasingly confident that the several serious legal battles I’m fighting – criminal and civil – are going to have apocalyptic consequences for the Jersey oligarchy.

Since we last spoke – I’ve become Jersey’s first political prisoner since the Nazis left. Got jailed for ten weeks – for supposed “contempt of court” charges – that I was given less than 24 hours notice of – and denied an adjournment. I was locked up in the local jail overnight – but I was able to make my own bail application the next morning – and was driven to court in an armored van – handcuffed between two prison guards as though I were a terrorist. It was heard by an English judge – who was clearly decidedly unimpressed with the local crooks. So now I’m out on bail whilst I run my appeals – which I’m having to do myself, as the Jersey authorities have prevented me from having legal representation throughout the whole oppressive episode.

As I remark to the point of cliche – you just couldn’t make it up.

I wonder how many British people understand that the authorities in London are ultimately responsible for failing to ensure good governance and the proper rule of law in these islands?

Regards.

Stuart
Nicholas Shaxson in: Tax Havens

States face legal action by ‘victims of abuse’

A UK lawyer is seeking damages for over 20 former residents of Haut de la Garenne

A UK law firm has said that it is seeking substantial damages from the States of Jersey on behalf of 21 alleged victims of abuse at Haut de le Garenne.

Alan Collins, director of Verisona Solicitors in the UK, said that he believed his clients were entitled to those damages as their lives had been ruined by their experiences.

In his view, victims of Haut de la Garenne could now point to another legal victory following the imprisonment this week of former house parents Morag and Anthony Jordan.

Mrs Jordan was sentenced to nine months in prison and Mr Jordan to six months for physically assaulting vulnerable children in their care in the 1970s and 1980s.

Article posted on 8th January, 2011 - 3.00pm

States face legal action by ‘victims of abuse’

Syvret says police raid ‘worse than Mugabe’

Former Senator Stuart Syvret

FORMER Health Minister Stuart Syvret said in the Royal Court yesterday that a raid on his former home was heavier-handed than those conducted by the regime of Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe.

Mr Syvret criticised the 2009 States police raid on the Grouville premises, which involved a search by ten police officers.

After the raid the former Health Minister was detained by the police for seven hours.His arrest led to his trial in November 2010 for motoring offences and for breaching data protection laws.

Mr Syvret was in court for a hearing relating to his appeal against a ten-week jail sentence for contempt of court. That sentence was imposed in November followed his trial and he is currently on bail until his appeal is heard.

• Read the full report in Friday’s JEP

Article posted on 7th January, 2011 - 2.56pm
Syvret says police raid ‘worse than Mugabe’

Does sex offenders law go far enough?

Jersey finally has legislation which protects the islands children and vulnerable adults but some parents are concerned the sex offenders law doesn't go as far as Sarah's law in the UK.

The sex offenders law creates a register of people who've been convicted of sex crimes both in Jersey and elsewhere. The register allows police to keep a check on them and allows courts to make orders to prevent them from re-offending - such as stopping them living near a school. The law also requires offenders to tell police about travel plans, which can be stopped if necessary.

38 people are being put forward to go on the register- 20 are currently in prison, 15 are free in the community and considered to be high risk. 3 are also on the UK register but Jersey's new legislation doesn't go as far as Sarah's law in the UK. After Sarah Payne was killed by a convicted sex offender in Sussex, her family campaigned to give parents access to information about paedophiles in their area - and a pilot scheme is now running in parts of England.

What do you think?

Does Jersey's law go far enough to offer sufficient protection?

Would you like to see a more robust law or are you happy that the legislation is finally in place?

Are you concerned for your children?

Does sex offenders law go far enough?

Couple jailed for Jersey care home assaults

Former Haut de la Garenne house parents Morag and Anthony Jordan used 'casual and routine violence' against children

Anthony and Morag Jordan have been jailed for a string of assaults against children on Jersey island Anthony and Morag Jordan have been jailed for a string of physical assaults against vulnerable children at the Haut de la Garenne care home on the island of Jersey during the 1970s and 1980s Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

A husband and wife have been jailed for physically assaulting children at the Haut de la Garenne residential home in Jersey.

Morag and Anthony Jordan, both 62, from Kirriemuir, Angus, received jail terms of nine months and six months respectively at the royal court of Jersey. They had been found guilty in November last year of eight separate counts relating to abuse at the home.

Morag Jordan was acquitted of a further 28 counts and her husband of four.

Morgan Jordan, who worked at the children's home between 1970 and 1984, was convicted of assaults including pushing a child's face into urine-soaked sheets after she wet the bed and hitting other children with her hand and a wooden shoe. Her husband was found guilty of hitting children with a metal spoon, a knife and his hand.

Prosecutors said the couple were "intimidating bullies" who used "casual and routine violence" while working as house parents.

Last year another former carer at the home, Gordon Wateridge, then 78, was convicted of eight charges of indecent assault and one of assault against teenagers living there during the 1970s.

Wateridge, also a house parent, would grope girls' breasts, hug teenagers inappropriately and kiss them on the neck, the court was told. He indecently assaulted three teenage girls and assaulted one teenage boy.

Also last year a former teenage resident of the home, Michael Aubin, was convicted of sexually abusing other boys there.

The £4.5m police investigation into alleged crimes at Haut de la Garenne has faced criticism. In February 2008 the Jersey force said it had found the "potential remains of a child" buried under the Victorian building, prompting a long and expensive excavation. But later that year a new officer taking charge of the case said there had never been compelling evidence to justify the dig.

Despite lurid reports suggesting torture and murder at the home no evidence emerged to support this. Of 170 bone fragments removed from site only three were found to be possibly human – two of those dating back as far as 1470, and the other two between 1650 and 1950.

Couple jailed for Jersey care home assaults

Haut de la Garenne couple jailed

Anthony and Morag Jordan arriving at the Royal Court this morning. Picture: Tony Pike (01124157)

A COUPLE who physically assaulted children in their care at the Haut de la Garenne children’s home in the 1970s and 80s were jailed by the Royal Court this morning.

Morag Jordan was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment and Anthony Jordan to six months.

The couple, both aged 62, and who worked as house parents at the home at different periods between 1970 and 1984, were found guilty in November of physically assaulting a number of children.

Article posted on 6th January, 2011 - 2.59pm

Haut de la Garenne couple jailed