Yesterday, the Telegraph’s “Communities Editor” Shane Richmond poked an hornets nest with a stick when he stooped to mock veteran satirical/news magazine Private Eye. The celebrated organ, according to Richmond
increasingly resembles an embarrassing dad at a disco, moaning that he can’t hear the words and the music is just a noise before launching into a lecture on how they had proper pop stars in his day.
As a decade-long subscriber to the rag, with piles and piles of the magazines still knocking around my house and the Eye‘s way of looking at the world firmly lodged in my subconscious, Richmond couldn’t be more wrong.
And the day he chose to commit his drivel to electrons was perhaps a bad day to choose as at least two Eye stories hit greater attention.
Firstly, the CDC funding scandal which the Eye has been tracking for some considerable time now came before the Public Accounts Committee. Committee chairman Edward Leigh noted that the CDC has proven very effective at making money – rather less effective at fulfilling its ostensible purpose of alleviating poverty overseas.
Secondly, yesterday’s piano story that was been high in most of the Beeb’s radio broadcasts: Kemble, who have been making the instrument for two years short of a century and are Britain’s last remaining onshore piano creators, are to close their doors. A story broken by the Eye in their edition published over a fortnight ago.
Sometimes it seems that listening to the real news is like listening to an echo of the Eye.
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4 Comments
I agree completely.
Unlike the US, we don’t have much ‘free’ press per se…
Hi Alex,
I’m a long-time reader of The Eye myself and I don’t plan on stopping soon. I agree that The Eye frequently breaks stories.
My post was specifically intended to satirise The Eye’s treatment of stories about the internet, especially those concerning old media dabbling in new media.
Their attitude to the blogosphere, for example, displayed in the latest issue’s piece about Guido Fawkes is a case in point. Much of what’s great about blogs – shedding light on stories the MSM has overlooked, offering snarky comment from the sidelines – is the same stuff that has made Private Eye great.
It’s a shame they can’t see that and, to me, it does make them look woefully out of touch.
I find this article offensive and wish to cancel my RSS feed subscription to Lib Dem Voice immediately.
Ian Hislop made a prick of himself on Newsnight Review claiming that the Draper/McBridge story was inconsequential and only got attention through blog repition – adding that it wouldn’t make a story in the Eye. He obviously didn’t understand that attempting to smear opposition politicians, even through a modish media, is actually quite a significant story. A week later he seemed to have performed a volte farce as he splashed it all over the magazine.