Published: 8 December, 2011
by GERALD ISAAMAN

Can it get even worse?

That is undoubtedly the question as we all hold our breath this week, awaiting the outcome of last-ditch attempts to prevent the collapse of the Euro.

We wait, too, to discover the effect the Euro crisis will have on the UK economy, given the Chancellor’s fearful autumn statement and the dire warnings of the governor of the Bank of England.

We are living – most of us – in unprecedented, dangerous times that herald a nightmare future for today’s youth, unheated homes for the elderly, thousands thrown out of work, let alone the first signs of serious social unrest as teachers, nurses, police and other public workers go on strike and others encamp outside St Paul’s Cathedral in protest to the excesses of Mammon.

Alas, the answer to that initial question – “Can it get any worse?”  – is a resounding “Yes”.

And reading Malcolm Dean’s devastating exposé of how the democratic process remains under relentless attack ought to produce its own wave of outrage.

If ever there was a bible of evidence to expose how the popular press has not simply abused but undermined the very nature of the democratic process, then this is it.

Every MP and peer should read it, as should every member of every Whitehall department.

Those on the Leveson inquiry should read it, as they work to uncover the truth of how phone hacking and intrusion into privacy has hurt the lives of innocent people.

Yet, as far as I can discover, no newspaper has reviewed it, no radio or TV station has interviewed its author, Malcolm Dean, the Guardian’s doyen reporter on social policy, now a fellow of Nuffield College who has acted as a government special adviser and chaired a commission on older people.

The grand irony, of course, is that it is the media – especially the  Guardian and the Daily Telegraph – that has exposed the greed, lies and distortions of our politicians, bankers, prime utilities and the press itself.

These papers have exposed corruption so emphatically that any faith in the major pillars of our society has been lost, and any belief in the value of the vote to correct that situation has been virtually destroyed for those who have fought for – and believed in – democracy.

Dean has system­atically reviewed the policies of governments, especially those elected with landslide majorities.

He shows how the media distorts policy and politics to the extent that planned reforms have been abandoned and/or changed by weak and vain politicians, fearful of the power of press barons to ruin their lives.

Evidence of that is already abundant, but not, alas, how detailed policies on education, crime, housing, drugs, asylum seekers and the NHS have failed under the vicious attack of the media, too often committed to produce sensational headlines, if nothing else.

The extent of what has happened is enough to make you want to cry with shame – the case of Estelle Morris, the former teacher-turned-schools minister and the Tomlinson recommend­ations aimed at reforming our exams system being a prime example.

Estelle Morris was subjected, says Dean, to an offensive media onslaught.

She was hounded over past mistakes she was not responsible for and tearfully resigned, withdrawing from front-line politics because she couldn’t cope with the press.

No wonder David Miliband, when he returned last year to his alma mater, Haverstock School in Camden, declared that Tony Blair’s refusal under press pressure to embrace the Tomlinson report was “an historic error” we are still suffering from.

There are similar instances in successive chapters in Dean’s unforgiving study of cynical, negative reporting that, if anything, has only served to reduce the circulation of the national press.

Reporting Parliament, apart from the knockabout farce of PM’s Questions that go unanswered, is now non-existent; reporting on local authorities, courts and other offices of state is reduced to a minimum as newspapers have cut back their own staff numbers and pour reduced resources into covering celebrities and reality shows.

The news that people need to know is increasingly ignored, along with the changes in our culture that are demonstrably affecting our way of life.

So it’s no wonder there is a shark with blood dripping from its jaws on the cover of Dean’s important book about the rise and fall of modern journalism, which allows the freedom of the press to behave irresponsibly and, currently, virtually without any sanctions.

Malcolm Dean thoughtfully asks if his shark book cover is fair – and replies: “Most certainly it is. The media still do good work, but their contribution to policy-making is negative, cynical, derisive, sarcastic, scornful and contemptuous…

“Read chapter 10 on the seven sins, including the distortions, the negativity, and, most appropriately
given the cover, the hunting in packs and the savagery, particularly once they smell the blood of a wounded minister.”

Bertolt Brecht’s song told us that the shark has pretty teeth, dear, but it is Mack the Knife sneaking round the corner that we have to watch out for. It apparently still remains true amid today’s modern madness.”

• Democracy Under Attack: How the media distort policy and politics. By Malcolm Dean. The Policy Press, £19.99