Exhibit JC42 - The Leveson Inquiry

For Distribution to CPsEditorial Attitudes Towards News Reporting Revealed in Clarke’s Lecture NotesThe Easter vacation was usually the first opportunity Diploma studentshad of gaining experience in provincial newspapers, and this was writteninto the syllabus, and Clarke read this out in his introductory lecture tothese attachments: that they should be prepared to devote part of theirvacations to gaining such experience. He advised them to veil anyambitions to be reviewers because local newspapers wanted reporters notbook or drama critics. There was advice, too, about the pitfalls of the’superiority complex’ that had brought a lot of trouble to the task of gettingpapers to co-operate over vacation attachments. He admonished studentsto be primed with the note of the office address and telephone number aswell as the name of the editor, local mayor, and the political complexion ofthe Council. Get to know the history of the district and its leadingpersonalities, was another piece of advice. The keynote of their behaviourshould be that: ’you have come to learn. Don’t argue. Make contacts. Don’tbe a clock-watcher. Be accurate in all you write. Put nothing on paper thatyou do not know to be true. When in doubt FIND OUT.’Office hours had to be ascertained and adhered to and promptness wasa virtue. Know the edition times and days and find out the last time forreceiving copy. And he reminded them always to put their names in the topright hand corner and to try and type their copy. I followed this advice wheninstituting vacation attachments at radio stations for students on theLondon College of Printing Radio Journalism course which I started in1977.They also had to keep a diary of this period and submit it to Clarke in thefirst week of the summer term. He told them to persist with any story theywere allocated and to take the kicks with a smile if they got it wrong. Or geta colleague in a quiet corner, flatter him, or her, and ’they’d probably winsympathy with guidance." In this way Clarke prepared students for therealities of provincial newspaper life where everyone had most likely comeup the hard way and might well regard University journalists mostunfavourably. He also advised students to dress well, but notostentatiously.., the sloppiness of College wear was not suitable for areporter who might have to go anywhere.When these students returned to College, the editors’ comments, listingoccasional weaknesses as well as regular strengths, were already beforethe Journalism Committee.Although Clarke expected most students to find jobs outside London hedid prepare them for daily paper work with lectures on newspaperorganisation and with the crime reporting simulation mentioned earlier. Headvised that, in covering a murder, the short story techniques werepermissible because ’the chief canon of Short story writing was suspense.’Historical Background of the PressIt was not just the practical element that attracted Clarke’s interest: whenit came to newspaper history his enthusiasm for what he described as ’amost fascinating and enlightening study’ was apparent. Rather than beginwith a list of dates and names of long-dead newspapers Clarke started histalk by asking ’What were the beginnings of news?’ and answered it by126MOD100051297