Category Archives: expenses

Martin Moore Blog: Journalism wins

Posted on by
Reply
"The expenses scandal has been a shot in the arm for public interest journalism. It has shown that political news can sell papers (the Telegraph has, according to Media Guardian, sold 600,000 more newspapers), that a newspaper (as opposed to a website or blog) can lead the news agenda for days – weeks – on end. And it has shown that the role of journalism as watchdog is alive and well."

New York Times: In Britain, Scandal Flows From Modest Request

Posted on by
Reply
A1: "At one level, the scandal is a rich tale of politicians exploiting a lax system of expenses to claim a mind-boggling array of benefits. ... At another level, it is a story of a newspaper, The Telegraph, which broke with a reputation as a stuffy publication favored by retired army colonels and blue-rinsed widows to seize what has turned out to be one of Britain’s greatest scoops. As it has done so, it has stolen a march on its rivals in an overcrowded market where vanishing profits have intensified an already brutal rivalry."

SeattlePI.com: Former UW student shakes up British government

Posted on by
Reply
"If the British tabloids knew about the sex-advice column Heather Brooke wrote for the University of Washington Daily nearly two decades ago they might run with it as a salacious news item. ... But that information hasn't reached them, it seems, and Brooke has proven to an entire nation she is a journalist of another ilk. In doing so, the former Seattleite has shaken up the British parliamentary leadership and perhaps changed forever the relationship between the British press and the House of Commons."

Wordblog: Expenses map shows power of underused reporting tool

Posted on by
Reply
Andrew Grant-Adamson on that map of MPs' expenses that Tony Hirst made with a Guardian dataset: "The power of mapping as a tool for journalists has been woefully under-used in this country, in part because of the difficulty in obtaining data. ... Mapping has become on of the most powerful tools for investigative reporters in the US. In the UK it is much harder to obtain databases but there is also a lack of skill in using the techniques."

Your Right To Know: The latest ruse from Speaker Martin and his cronies

Posted on by
Reply
Heather Brooke: "I’ve noticed a new excuse being used by Speaker Michael Martin and the House of Commons authorities when dealing with freedom of information requests. They are now using the section 34 exemption of ‘parliamentary privilege’ - which is an absolute exemption against which there is no public interest test."

Guardian: This mother of all expenses cock-ups is the stuff of banana republics

Posted on by
Reply
Simon Jenkins on the MPs' expenses story: "Those who chant the obituary of the "mainstream media" might care to cite any electronic organisation able to put together such an investigation. Like the Guardian's recent disclosure of corporate tax avoidance, this work requires staff and resources. When the BBC tried to reveal the truth about the Iraq war dossiers, its cowering chairman and director general were driven by a mere Downing Street press officer into resignation. Crude, unfair, bolshie, whatever, the old-fashioned newspaper is still ­desperately needed to keep democracy on its toes. God forbid that it should ever cease. "