Nicholas Jones - Latest Articles

Miners' strike anniversary: "If only..." Britain might be leading the world in clean coal technology

When Arthur Scargill visited the Camp for Climate Change erected outside the Kingsnorth coal-fired power station in Kent in August 2008, he found himself at odds with a group of activists who back in the 1980s might well have joined him in challenging the policies of Margaret Thatcher. Undaunted by the placards of environmental campaigners declaring “No new coal”, he used his guest appearance as honorary president of the National Union of Mineworkers to mount a valiant defence of the need for a new and integrated energy policy based on coal and renewables which he hoped would result in the closure of all nuclear power stations. Delighted though they were both by the publicity which Scargill attracted and his criticism of the stop-and-search powers being exercised by riot police around the camp, the protestors seemed in no mood to be swayed by what smacked of special pleading by the NUM and they were adamant that if there was to be any real chance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, there had to be a ban on any future investment in coal-fired generation. Nonetheless Scargill was as ambitious as ever in presenting an action plan to revive the coal industry: + closed pits should be re-opened.+ coal production should be increased to 250 million tons a year (more than twice the level of the pre-1984 level out of output).+ approval should be given for the construction of a new generation of coal-fired power stations designed to incorporate the latest carbon capture technology.

Miners' strike anniversary: journalists owe a collective apology over vindictive pit closures

The soul searching of a former BBC correspondent

Just like the sustained scare story over weapons of mass destruction which preceded the war against Iraq, the year-long pit dispute was played out against an equally well-entrenched narrative aimed in this case at demonising the “enemy within”. For the British news media, the confrontation between Margaret Thatcher and Arthur Scargill had as much potency as the fight to the finish with Saddam Hussein. Many journalists have reflected ruefully on the way they were taken in by the pro-war propaganda of George Bush and Tony Blair in the months leading up to the US offensive in March 2003 and similarly when I think back to my reporting of the 1984-5 strike I have to admit that in the end I got ensnared by the seeming inevitability of the Thatcherite story line that the mineworkers had to be defeated in order to smash trade union militancy.

Miners' strike anniversary: how free can a journalsit be with a private conversation

The 25th anniversary of the pit dispute has provided a timely opportunity to reveal what happened when I become Arthur Scargill's stand-in driver at the height of the strike:

Using my BBC reporter’s car in the middle of the 1984-5 miners’ strike to give Arthur Scargill a lift to London was not something which I ever dared to mention in my broadcasts about the pit dispute. Just days before our four-hour drive, he had been arrested and subsequently injured during the Battle of Orgreave when ten thousand pickets faced four thousand police officers. The near-unanimous view of the press was that the President of the National Union of Mineworkers posed an even greater danger to the state than he did at the start of the dispute. Scargill shunned almost all personal contact with journalists during the year-long strike and he remains as aloof today. My brief stint as his stand-in driver came about by chance. I have to admit that at the time nothing from our conversation struck me as being particularly newsworthy; Scargill was too astute for that. But I ended up feeling at a slight disadvantage, fearing I could have compromised my own impartiality and might be accused of taking sides in the dispute. Once the strike was over I occasionally re-read my notes and, as the years went by, I began to realise that I possessed a rare insight into the thinking and personal routines of the union leader who commanded the most divisive industrial dispute since the general strike of 1926.

Political journalism: the perils of writing to a pre-determined agenda

Political journalism provides an ideal illustration of the contradictions and extremes of the British news media. No other group of correspondents are so open to manipulation yet so determined to prove their independence by influencing and, whenever possible, by driving forward the news agenda. Opinionated commentaries and a great tradition of campaigning journalism are a hallmark of the British press. When reinforced by the constant push for exclusive agenda-setting setting stories, the impact can be pretty potent.

Max Clifford salving his conscience as Jade Goody's father figure

Max Clifford has been trying his hardest to re-invent himself by becoming a father figure for the terminally-ill reality television star Jade Goody but while he might be hoping to salve his conscience he cannot undo all the damage he has inflicted over the years by helping to legitimise cheque-book journalism.

Not only has he stoked up the public's appetite for the seedier side of paid-for journalism - through what he calls "a game...my way of life" - but he has also encouraged and sustained the often pitiful ingenuity of those who seek to exploit it.

By advising his clients on how to make "a financial killing" from newspapers and television for stories such as kiss-and-tells, Clifford has inspired and empowered countless other individuals who have the imagination and cunning to take advantage of the un-controlled competitive forces which are currently at play within the news and entertainment media.

Trashy tabloids establish Freak television by the backdoor

A review which has just been announced by the Office of Fair Trading into the rules affecting the ownership of regional and local media might well end up as a nothing more than a smokescreen for a far more significant re-alignment which is already taking place nationally without any sign of government interference.

National newspapers which have invested heavily in their websites – like the Sun, News of the World, Guardian and Daily Telegraph – are carving out their share of the expanding online television market without having to pay any heed to the old rules on cross ownership or monopolies. The likes of Sun tv and News of the World tv are outside the reach of Ofcom. It says they are not television-like services; the regulators and the government are happy to look the other way.

Self-regulation of the internet “rules ok”

Self-regulation “rules ok” was the general consensus when internet industry experts were invited by the Westminster Media Forum (11.2.2009) to consider whether online content regulation was the only practical solution to the task of “taming the wild web”. Media companies and internet service providers argued that the “huge reduction in child abuse images on UK sites” demonstrated the effectiveness of a co-operative approach between industry, government and consumers.

Miners and the media: strike’s 25th anniversary a tragic reminder of missed opportunities

If Britain is to avoid the threat of power black outs, the government has little alternative but to give the go ahead to a new generation of nuclear and coal-fired power stations. But how could a country, which Arthur Scargill says has “over 1,000 years of coal reserves”, end up facing an energy shortfall? Nicholas Jones says the 25th anniversary of the 1984-5 miners’ strike (March 12, 2009) provides an ironic backdrop at a critical moment.

Joining up the dots in a multi-media environment

In a lecture to students at Brunel University (27.1.2009) Nicholas Jones set out the challenges which journalists will face as newspaper groups expand their audio-visual online output and compete head on with established broadcasters. Newspapers like the Sun and the News of the World are showing how the Murdoch press is joining up the dots. News International’s purchasing power for exclusive video material – and the skill of its journalists in manufacturing news – can dictate the running order of newsrooms across the multi-media environment. Newspaper groups are determined to maintain their influence in a digital age and are demonstrating how they can command the agenda not just in the press but in television and radio and online journalism as well.

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