The MoD has agreed to allow ITV News reporters back on embeds. Their director of news, James Clark, has had to back down in the face of widespread criticism. Clark is a former Mail reporter – here’s their account of his change of mind: Government forced to let ITV News back on the front-line.

The Mail piece says the move is “being seen as further proof that government spin-doctors have become increasingly “paranoid” about the endless tide of negative publicty about its actvities in the Middle-East.”

You have to hand it to them – Clark may once have been one of the gang, but he still gets both barrels!

ITN executives reflecting on the future tone of their reporting might want to use some of Clark’s former articles at the Mail as a primer in how to avoid ‘cheap shots.’

HEADLINE: Military leaders are ‘seething’ at betrayal of Paras
BYLINE: James Clark

BRITAIN’S top soldiers, many involved with the running of the Kosovo war, are on a collision course with the Government over the treatment of the Bloody Sunday paratroopers. Although barred from speaking publicly, the most senior echelons of the Ministry of Defence were said yesterday to be privately ‘seething’.

HEADLINE: £3.7m – what Labour spin doctors are costing the taxpayer
BYLINE: James Clark

NEW LABOUR’S army of spin doctors will earn more than £3.7million next year enough to employ 262 nurses or build two secondary schools. Tony Blair’s government employs 72 ‘special advisers’ including media staff, political aides and policy advisers more than any other administration in history. Each earning between £26,000 and £106,000 a year, they will cost the taxpayer at least £3,700,800 in wages alone next year, at an average of £52,000 a year.

HEADLINE: Cost cut too far for heroes of Arnhem
BYLINE: James Clark

THEIR heroic exploits at Arnhem were immortalised in the film A Bridge Too Far. On Saturday, 55 years on, the soldiers of 10 Para marched together for the last time as their battalion fell victim to the latest round of defence cuts.

HEADLINE: Army caves in to the fast food invasion;
BYLINE: James Clark

THEY say an army marches on its stomach. But British soldiers may well end up waddling into war if plans to revolutionise their diet go ahead. The Ministry of Defence wants to let fast food chains such as McDonald’s, Burger King and Harry Ramsden’s infiltrate junior ranks’ messes…Senior officers, however, fear the daily temptation of burgers, chips and fizzy drinks will prove irresistible, leaving troops less than fighting fit, while dieticians are speaking of a ‘nutritional disaster’ in the making.

HEADLINE: Spare part crisis for Royal Repair Force
BYLINE: James Clark

MANY frontline RAF squadrons are relying on a pitifully small number of jets, it has been revealed. Scores of Tornado F3 fighters have been taken out of service for repair this month… Morale in the Tornado units – Britain’s first line of defence – is said to be at an all-time low.

HEADLINE: ‘Shambles’ of Britain’s mothballed weapons
BYLINE: James Clark

BODY:
BRITAIN’s armed forces might be unable to mount another Falklands-style operation, a shocking report reveals today. Despite recent defence moves which emphasise rapid deployment, much of the nation’s military hardware including warships, aircraft and tanks could not be mobilised in time, the National Audit Office has found…The storage shambles , combined with defence cuts means Britain would be unable to fight a major conflict on its own.

Not a cheap shot in sight!