Bloggerheads

It is unclear if Glen Jenvey features heavily in War on the Web by Jeremy Reynalds, or if there are so many of his tall tales in it that his claim of being co-author is, ironically, quite credible:

Either way, Glen Jenvey describes Jeremy Reynalds as a friend, they worked together to some extent on a book that has yet to see the light of day, and Jeremy Reynalds recently wrote two articles that were quite sympathetic toward our Mr Jenvey (one of which has since been removed):

Richard Bartholomew – ASSIST News Service Scrubs Jeremy Reynalds Article on Glen Jenvey

(Psst! Don’t feel bad, boys; everybody who’s anybody is withdrawing articles without explanation these days, and I myself have a novel languishing in the doldrums.)

I’ve just been in touch with Jeremy Reynalds, who insists that he has “no advocacy position” on Glen Jenvey, and claims merely to have given Glen Jenvey an opportunity to tell his side of the story, as he felt there was an imbalance in reporting at the time; in his own words, Jeremy Reynalds’ intention was to “present Mr. Jenvey’s response to the charges against him and to share some of his perspective about why they surfaced,” as he felt this had not been done.

(For some reason, Mr Jenvey had little trouble getting his other conspiracy theories aired in tabloids, but could only rely on Jeremy Reynalds to air his claim that the Guardian were in league with extremists. This could simply be a budget-cutting credit-crunch thing, because lately even I have trouble getting any kind of response out of any of these people.)

However, after delivering one side of the story, Jeremy Reynalds appears to have failed to keep up with both sides of the story, as he now claims not to have heard from our Mr Jenvey in a month, and to be unaware of any accusations of sex crimes… i.e. the pile of turds currently at the centre of the story.

(Psst! A new round of freshly-crafted smears emerged at the weekend. All you need to know is that the only departure from the established plan/theme is that the perpetrator is no longer posing as a representative of the Daily Mail.)

One can only wonder when exactly the story ‘dried up’ for Mr Reynalds, because I didn’t catch any part where he pointed out that someone might have been wrong about the Guardian being in league with extremists thing, but at some stage he clearly stopped pursuing this dynamite story, so I can only assume that the leads stopped coming in… at about the time Mr Jenvey… stopped… calling………..*

… no, don’t mind me; I thought I saw a little revelation lurking in the shadows there, but it appears to be a trick of the light.

Anyway, as I’ve pointed out a couple of times now I’m experiencing some story imbalance myself in places, and Jeremy Reynalds appears to have dropped the ‘Guardian in league with extremists’ exclusive that was keeping him so busy… so I’ve asked him if he wouldn’t mind taking the time to tell my side of the story.

You know; to present my response to the charges against me and to share some of my perspective about why they surfaced, and like that.

I’ll let you know how I get on.

(Pardon my tense… there’s a few things I’d like to put in the past.)

For the benefit of the archive:

This post first went live when the Dunblane/Express petition was delivered, as elements of the mainstream media made false claims about G20 protestor violence on par with Hillsborough. At that time, it was mostly beyond the remit of the PCC to do anything about an article that wasn’t about you personally, and the libel laws were mostly a set of tools for rich bullies wishing to silence critics while denying them their day in court.

Recent events showed that few newspapers allowing comments were publishing any criticism of substance, and they rarely if ever engaged under comments, which is an entirely un-blog-like thing to do, and certainly not on during a phase where mainstream media companies were trying to horn in on the blogging action while rubbishing the reputations of those in their way (i.e. us).

Further, a combination of economic forces and selfishness was leading to widespread sackings and an alarming downturn in quality, as profit was shoved ahead of the public interest more often and to clearly unacceptable extremes.

On this blog/week alone, I found myself chasing editors of The Times, The People, the Daily Star, The Sun, the Daily Mail, the Express, the Sunday Express, The Scottish Sun and even The Independent with really quite valid concerns, but hearing back from none of them, presumably because ‘more money’ equals ‘better than’.

See also:
A recent announcement
Why ‘Media Watch Rock-a-Hula’?

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Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve all seen the recent/sudden downturn in the quality and reliability of mainstream news and comment, coinciding with alarming outbreaks of carelessness and sheer malice in some places.

We’ve got at least one rogue publisher (Richard Desmond) thumbing his nose at the PCC, and while every news outlet is begging us for chunks of our private lives that they can publish for profit (with or without our permission), no bugger will answer our emails or address our concerns when something that is clearly false has been published, and no effort has been made to remove, correct or (Dog forbid) alert readers to the error. Meanwhile, pretty much the same applies to the (blissfully) few ‘leading bloggers’ who claim to be challenging the establishment.

The only news outlet that’s in any way compelled to answer is the BBC, who find themselves crippled since Andrew Gilligan shot off his fat gob, and under constant attack by the same parties described in the previous paragraph (i.e. those who demand accountability of others, yet think themselves above it).

Clearly the time has come for us to form organised squads and start hitting people with sticks.

If you’re of a mind to do something positive and powerful about outright lies in the media, I invite you to join the Media Watch Rock-a-Hula, now in progress.

Much like Sun Lies and Mail Watch, the job (described in detail here) is to target outright lies, document them where possible (on your own site if you wish), and pursue a correction with vigour when circumstances call/allow for it.

While I expect this to be a modest-sized crowd with maybe a few dozen experienced/dedicated bloggers, writers and researchers on board at first, there are roles that pretty much anyone can play.

Yes, even you.

You could easily be that one person in a thousand with the right expertise, contacts, access or influence required to get a specific job done quickly, and if not, someone has to carry the pitchforks and kerosene.

Anything you do will be on a strictly voluntary basis and you can do it with or without a website. You’ll probably even learn a few things as we go along, and as natural talent groups form within the crowd (as they usually do), we can casually give birth to little beasties like the long-overdue Express Watch and more.

And it is with that (and that only) in mind that you should join me on Twitter, as that is all I plan to use it for:

Join me on Twitter

More sign-up options (e.g. a mailing list) to follow. Comments and bloggage welcome.

Cheers all.

Earlier:
Jamie Ross – Here Comes The Sun
Bloggerheads – David Dinsmore steals from cancer patient

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In the old days of ‘journalism’, if a hard-working reporter wanted to get hold of a family snapshot, he’d have to pocket a framed picture or two from the mantelpiece while the interviewee was making tea or being comforted/distracted by an accomplice.

Now, in the marvellous age of digital photography, all newspapers have to do is get a snapper to rattle off a few pictures of your pictures.

He can then go on to sell copies, even if you don’t sign any paperwork giving him permission to do this, because from that point on, the photographer (or their agent) can claim copyright on these images of images.

Apparently.

I’ve contacted Epicscotland and the Independent to try to find out what’s happened here, but it doesn’t look at all right to me. Still, there’s an opportunity for David Dinsmore to indignantly bitch about the one thing that might not be his fault in the hope that it will distract us from the things that clearly are.

(waits)

Coming up next: Who wants to share my copy of a camera-recorded version of Watchmen? It’s free, and entirely legal, according to the newspaper people.

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MINI-UPDATES – The online version of The Sun’s stunt has been withdrawn, and the journalist listed as author of the piece – Yvonne Bolouri – has issued a statement claiming that she has nothing to do with any of it, which puts David Dinsmore clearly in the frame. Dinsmore has not been in touch; he would instead prefer to bully/cajole Jamie by phone by the looks of things. Jamie has been advised that this is an old newspaper dodge to be avoided; if you suspect someone of being a liar and/or a cheat, conduct the conversation by email, *not* telephone.

When you’re ready, Mr Dinsmore…