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INSIDE TABLOIDS - WHY PHONE HACKING FLOURISHED

Working as a reporter on a British tabloid newspaper meant that I covered many of the most widely publicised stories of the time. It was a time when circulations were buoyant and the competition between tabloids was fierce. Reporters didn't hesitate to lie and cheat in the course of their 'duty'. The game and the stakes were often frighteningly high as they chased exclusives. Never before have so many reporters been after so many stories.

These were the days before phone hacking. Rupert Murdoch may have had the upper hand as the owner of the two most powerful tabloids, but back then in the 1980s, there were no mobile phones and no sneaky private eyes doing our dirty work for us. Sure, we paid coppers money for their ‘help’ but electronically snooping into the lives of a murder victim such as Milly Dowler was unthinkable. Footballers and Hollywood stars, on the other hand, were considered fair game. But it’s no surprise that phone hacking revelations in the summer of 2011 have brought Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid newspaper empire to its’ knees.

What I have tried to do here is provide an insight based on my own experiences into how journalists on the tabloids operated at a time when it really was down to the determination and guile of individual reporters. I’m not particularly proud of my journalistic exploits, though many gave me a great sense of achievement at the time. On occasions I definitely overstepped the mark. But I was young and keen and having a lot of fun along the way, in what seemed to me a glamorous and exciting world. Some of those experiences seem unreal when I look back on them, and I got into situations that normal, hard-working citizens would no doubt find tasteless and unpleasant. But there is, and always will be, a fascination for the tabloids.

People love to hate them but they also love to hear about what they have been up to. I used to believe that the popular press had a vital role to play in society but the phone hacking scandal has changed all that. Now the tabloids are seriously tainted and under commercial threat thanks to the internet. Back in my day, the tabloids provided news in a lively and entertaining way for people who didn't want to read one of the 'heavies', and tabloid news was always better than no news.

In 1987 I left the safe environment of a full-time job on the Sunday Mirror to pursue a freelance career in books, TV and film production. But my departure was anything but acrimonious. Admittedly some of my colleagues thought I was crazy to give
up a full-time career to enter an even more precarious pro-fession than tabloid journalism. But it was perfectly clear to me back then that I had peaked in newspaper terms. I’d had a great run for my money, but all the chases and the ducking and diving no longer appealed to me. Making a clean break seemed the most sensible course.

Tabloid Tricks is an updated edition of my best seller Dog Eat Dog, which was first published in 1990. Even now, many years after my departure from Fleet Street, people still seem to enjoy hearing about my tabloid adventures and the current furore over phone hacking has definitely re-fuelled interest in the tabloid tricks of the trade.

THE LATEST EDITION OF THIS BOOK WAS DEVELOPED FROM AN ARTICLE I WROTE FOR THE GUARDIAN.
Link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/11/notw-phone-hacking-private-investigators






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