This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/sep/08/reporter-secret-agent-spies-like-us

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Reporter? Secret agent? It's hard to tell with spies like us Reporter? Secret agent? It's hard to tell with spies like us
(10 days later)
There are many red lines that journalists can cross, and they don't all include hacking phones. Examine the lines that matter most this week – those drawn around assorted Syrian intelligence assessments – then hold this particular moral maze up to the light, and fret perplexedly over "the public interest" in a context that Lord Justice Leveson and the director of public prosecutions somehow fail to mention.There are many red lines that journalists can cross, and they don't all include hacking phones. Examine the lines that matter most this week – those drawn around assorted Syrian intelligence assessments – then hold this particular moral maze up to the light, and fret perplexedly over "the public interest" in a context that Lord Justice Leveson and the director of public prosecutions somehow fail to mention.
The theme is there, time and again, in a brilliant new book by Stewart Purvis (once editorial master of ITN) and Jeff Hulbert, When Reporters Cross the Line. The pair look at the whole range of journalism's ethical tangles – over reporting Bosnia, taking sides on Biafra and many more minty issues – but the spectre of the spook at, or under, the lunch table haunts chapter after chapter.The theme is there, time and again, in a brilliant new book by Stewart Purvis (once editorial master of ITN) and Jeff Hulbert, When Reporters Cross the Line. The pair look at the whole range of journalism's ethical tangles – over reporting Bosnia, taking sides on Biafra and many more minty issues – but the spectre of the spook at, or under, the lunch table haunts chapter after chapter.
Some reporters, of course, really did cross a red line: they were communist agents sailing under Fleet Street colours. But such doors, to greater or lesser degrees, have a habit of swinging both ways.Some reporters, of course, really did cross a red line: they were communist agents sailing under Fleet Street colours. But such doors, to greater or lesser degrees, have a habit of swinging both ways.
Go back to 1944, and here's Guy Burgess working simultaneously as a BBC producer, Foreign Office propagandist and Soviet spy. He produced more than 100 editions of The Week in Westminster and many more shows besides. "The BBC was his entry point into the networks of British society," Purvis and Hulbert write. "It was his invitation to important parties, his passport to official events, his safe haven when other jobs didn't work out." Was he vetted? Was he hell. There's some kind of natural progression from Cambridge, to the Times, to Broadcasting House, to the FO – and then to perdition.Go back to 1944, and here's Guy Burgess working simultaneously as a BBC producer, Foreign Office propagandist and Soviet spy. He produced more than 100 editions of The Week in Westminster and many more shows besides. "The BBC was his entry point into the networks of British society," Purvis and Hulbert write. "It was his invitation to important parties, his passport to official events, his safe haven when other jobs didn't work out." Was he vetted? Was he hell. There's some kind of natural progression from Cambridge, to the Times, to Broadcasting House, to the FO – and then to perdition.
Now, on the other side of this door, try someone whose pristine reputation won huge admiration: Charles Wheeler. It's 1953-54, and Wheeler is the BBC correspondent in Berlin, stuck with working closely with the FO's information research department, a propaganda outfit linked to MI6. The post he holds used to be called "BBC European service liaison officer" and to be actually based inside British military HQ. Chaps from the IRD drop by regularly and give Wheeler screeds of gossipy news about East Germany to send back to London for propaganda purposes. They also insist that all mail the BBC gets from eastern European listeners be turned over to the FO. In return, Bush House gets access to confidential FO cables.Now, on the other side of this door, try someone whose pristine reputation won huge admiration: Charles Wheeler. It's 1953-54, and Wheeler is the BBC correspondent in Berlin, stuck with working closely with the FO's information research department, a propaganda outfit linked to MI6. The post he holds used to be called "BBC European service liaison officer" and to be actually based inside British military HQ. Chaps from the IRD drop by regularly and give Wheeler screeds of gossipy news about East Germany to send back to London for propaganda purposes. They also insist that all mail the BBC gets from eastern European listeners be turned over to the FO. In return, Bush House gets access to confidential FO cables.
Does this mean that Wheeler was somehow compromised? No: a battered, lonely integrity came as part of his life's work. But (as he once told the author Michael Nelson) such "give-and-take" was part of BBC life in the cold war. And no one can quite say when, if at all, the misty fundamentals of that era ended.Does this mean that Wheeler was somehow compromised? No: a battered, lonely integrity came as part of his life's work. But (as he once told the author Michael Nelson) such "give-and-take" was part of BBC life in the cold war. And no one can quite say when, if at all, the misty fundamentals of that era ended.
The most difficult line that Purvis and Hulbert walk is the one that links Sandy Gall, the brave, craggy ITN reporter, to Afghanistan. It's 1980 and Sandy sits in Stone's Chop House with an MI6 chap who wants to ask a question framed by the foreign secretary himself: How can the war between the mujahideen and the Red Army be kept stage centre? Gall says get TV cameras in there, shooting the action. And a couple of years later the same MI6 man is back, naming the Afghan resistance leader the FO thinks "a second Tito". Sandy makes an old friend in General Zia ul-Haq, soon to be dictator of Pakistan. A malign Zia bumps off prime minister Bhutto and lays on Afghan trips for Gall. Then Sandy reports back to the head of MI6 over cold meat and salad.The most difficult line that Purvis and Hulbert walk is the one that links Sandy Gall, the brave, craggy ITN reporter, to Afghanistan. It's 1980 and Sandy sits in Stone's Chop House with an MI6 chap who wants to ask a question framed by the foreign secretary himself: How can the war between the mujahideen and the Red Army be kept stage centre? Gall says get TV cameras in there, shooting the action. And a couple of years later the same MI6 man is back, naming the Afghan resistance leader the FO thinks "a second Tito". Sandy makes an old friend in General Zia ul-Haq, soon to be dictator of Pakistan. A malign Zia bumps off prime minister Bhutto and lays on Afghan trips for Gall. Then Sandy reports back to the head of MI6 over cold meat and salad.
So it went on; more trips, more reports on the mujahadeen's need for the Stinger missiles that would fuel their cause, more television headlines. Was Sandy Gall a player or a reporter? Stewart Purvis, an admirer, thinks he stayed just the right side of the line, even when plugging the second Tito. But these are deep, deep waters.So it went on; more trips, more reports on the mujahadeen's need for the Stinger missiles that would fuel their cause, more television headlines. Was Sandy Gall a player or a reporter? Stewart Purvis, an admirer, thinks he stayed just the right side of the line, even when plugging the second Tito. But these are deep, deep waters.
Back to the near future. Peace or more war in Syria depends substantially on rival intelligence assessments. The thin MI6 dossier, the "compelling" CIA verdict, the French or the blank-eyed Russian version? Public opinion matters. It has called parliament's tune. Yet how do we sift such information? Did the interweaving of secret intelligence and journalism end when the Berlin Wall came down?Back to the near future. Peace or more war in Syria depends substantially on rival intelligence assessments. The thin MI6 dossier, the "compelling" CIA verdict, the French or the blank-eyed Russian version? Public opinion matters. It has called parliament's tune. Yet how do we sift such information? Did the interweaving of secret intelligence and journalism end when the Berlin Wall came down?
Of course not. Papers in the old days used to employ journalists with special sources in Whitehall. That surely continues. A Cheltenham that can track emails, follow phones and monitor meetings hasn't given up the game. And arguments can be stood on their heads: if the Guardian, exposing the state's confidential activities, is acting against the public interest in some editors' eyes, then not exposing them must equally be in the public, or national, interest. A hall of mirrors crack'd from side to side. Purvis and Hulbert, opening doors on a closed world, perform a signal service. There are rules, damned rules, damned court rulings – and layers of a deeper truth that lies beyond.Of course not. Papers in the old days used to employ journalists with special sources in Whitehall. That surely continues. A Cheltenham that can track emails, follow phones and monitor meetings hasn't given up the game. And arguments can be stood on their heads: if the Guardian, exposing the state's confidential activities, is acting against the public interest in some editors' eyes, then not exposing them must equally be in the public, or national, interest. A hall of mirrors crack'd from side to side. Purvis and Hulbert, opening doors on a closed world, perform a signal service. There are rules, damned rules, damned court rulings – and layers of a deeper truth that lies beyond.
■ A long hot August leaves its circulation mark, clear enough: FT readers don't reach for pink copies on some faraway beach (sales down 3.47% month-on-month and 15.6% year-on-year); Indy readers grow harder to find and reach (down 4.95% on July and 16.02% in 12 months). Readers of the Mirror, Star and Mail, however, all had a little more time to read in a deckchair, so sales there edged up. But one factor behind an overall 6.79% year-on-year decline is notional, going on totally obscure. What happened to 82,000 in daily newspaper sales between August 2012 and 2013? Simply, they weren't printed and sent abroad: and that's not really supply and demand, but a broader calculation of how much you can afford to make your headline circulation look better. These days the sun sets on seeming success when accountants go on holiday, too.■ A long hot August leaves its circulation mark, clear enough: FT readers don't reach for pink copies on some faraway beach (sales down 3.47% month-on-month and 15.6% year-on-year); Indy readers grow harder to find and reach (down 4.95% on July and 16.02% in 12 months). Readers of the Mirror, Star and Mail, however, all had a little more time to read in a deckchair, so sales there edged up. But one factor behind an overall 6.79% year-on-year decline is notional, going on totally obscure. What happened to 82,000 in daily newspaper sales between August 2012 and 2013? Simply, they weren't printed and sent abroad: and that's not really supply and demand, but a broader calculation of how much you can afford to make your headline circulation look better. These days the sun sets on seeming success when accountants go on holiday, too.
Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.