Sun editor: celebrity reporters operate just like political hacks

Dominic Mohan defends showbiz journalism at Leveson inquiry, while Daily Telegraph editor explains pressures facing papers The Sun editor, Dominic Mohan, has defended celebrity journalism, likening the relationship between showbiz reporters and the stars they write about to that between their lobby colleagues and politicians. Mohan told a Leveson inquiry seminar on Thursday that there is a public appetite for celebrity journalism, citing the Sun’s coverage of Michael Jackson’s death as an example of the story that gave the paper a huge circulation boost. Asked if the skills needed by celebrity journalists are very different from those required by political reporters, the former editor of the Sun’s Bizarre showbiz column replied: “No, the way showbiz journalists operate is like a political journalist in the lobby. “You do have regular discussions with showbiz agents and if you have a column to fill on a daily basis, the information they give you is of interest to your readers.” Mohan was then asked whether there were trade-offs – deals such as those where a journalist may agree not to run certain stories in return for other exclusives. “Probably no more than in the lobby system, when a spin doctor gives some information to a lobby journalist,” he responded. “The pressures I feel under are my own professional pride in producing a fun, informative newspaper on a daily basis,” Mohan added. During the same Leveson session Tony Gallagher, editor of the Daily Telegraph, was asked if there was any difference in the way he motivated his journalists compared with at his previous paper, the Daily Mail. “There’s not a huge difference,” Gallagher replied. “There’s a desire to be quick, accurate, to ensure you have the best version of the story. It’s as simple as that.” He also said that internet search engines such as Google posed a “very substantial threat to the health and future success of newspapers”. “Newspapers are under huge and growing pressures from the 24/7 news environment. The commercial pressure that exists because of those search engines and the collapse in advertising because of that, is immense,” Gallagher added. He was also asked whether having newsroom integration between print and web operations put extra pressure on journalists. “Journalists are working harder, longer days and doing more,” Gallagher admitted, describing the result as “capsule journalism” and “bite-size journalism”. “The pressure is much greater, the demands more intense … Whether it has an impact on standards is a question for each organisation,” he said. “The brand is very badly damaged if there’s a wide diversion between what [readers] find online and in the printed product, so we try very hard to make sure that’s not the case. “The Telegraph in a bygone era was much mocked for its interest in Liz Hurley, so that’s not a new thing. We cover celebrity on an instinctive understanding of who our readers are interested in. More Downton Abbey and less Katie Price.” •

Posted by on October 6, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.