The United Kingdom and Human Rights - College of Social ...

Education, Television and the Press 199
programmes, let alone listening to the radio, gives the lie
to such assertions. Freedom of expression has been and
will always be a field of battle and marginally shifting
fortunes, but Carlyle's comment in The French Revolution
remains valid:
"Great is Journalism. Is not every able Editor a Ruler
of the world, being a persuader of it?"
A more effective and less controversial way of
allowing freedom of expression and simultaneously
ensuring public awareness of risks of partiality would be
to require all reporting, documentary programmes, and
"faction" to carry "Government Health Warnings." The
idea could be extended to all newspapers. The warning
should not be small, like those on cigarette packets, but
should be blazoned in a one-inch wide strip across the
middle of each non-advertising page of newspapers.
Suitable wording would be: "All reporting is selective.
Criticism is one of our jobs. Always think for yourself." In
the case of television the warning should be inserted
before, after and during intervals in the news or other
documentary television programmes. Equally, nightly
political Chat Shows would be more illuminating were
they preceded by and intermittently interrupted or
flashed-over by statements that "This is a non-Party
POLITICAL Broadcast. Be alert and think for yourself."
Proprietors may contend that this will entail wastage of
newsprint, television frames or airtime, but they have
not disputed the usefulness of seeing politicians preceded
by a required notice saying "This is a Party
Political Broadcast." Journalists have no reason for
objecting to such a warning, which would not be
construed as an adverse reflection on their fairness,
because it would equally extend to comments by political
figures quoted or reported. The generalised approach
suggested is not unreasonable, because subjectivity is