The former BBC reporter behind the Hutton Inquiry, Andrew Gilligan, was lecturing in Bristol recently [HT: Roy Greenslade]. Regular readers will know my thoughts on Gilligan.

Gallingly, I share many of the concerns he articulates (I say “articulates” but you can judge for yourself here). I say “gallingly” because Gilligan frames those concerns as part of an attack on journalism which began with … an attack on him and the BBC.

Here are a few random quotes:

On the power of the press
A minority of journalists and proprietors might want to pursue their own agendas, undermine democracy, change the truth, but they have much less power to do so than they like to think. It just doesn’t work if it goes against the grain of the facts. Journalism can amplify public feelings that already exist, but it cannot create them from scratch.

On the need for something like Roy Greenslade’s blog, Press Gazette…whatever
What we also need is … a newspaper or a magazine about the press, reporting about reporting – turn the spotlight on ourselves … a weekly or a monthly publication that would expose, mock and humiliate the bad, forensically investigate dodgy stories, shame people [note: requires people to feel ashamed] … root out some of the dodgy practices that absolutely plague our trade… [like, yes?] nepotism and things.

On journalism under attack
One of the things I noticed when I was in trouble over Hutton was how few journalists … well quite a few journalists were prepared to come to my support … but quite a few were deeply hostile and critical…and I thought that was silly, it wasn’t in their interests either because it was the whole of journalism that was under attack.

Gilligan would make a better defender of journalism if he prefaced some of his occasional sensible points with an admission of his own shortcomings. But there you go…