'My column at the News of the World' blog discussion

JimmyTheWig

Martin,

This reminds me heavily of your stance on the student finance debate. By heading up the Student Finance Taskforce you give the changes credibility, which you have to balance against the advantages of getting the right messages out there.

Here you have made the same decission - that what you say to people is more important than the implications of you saying it - and so I'm not surprised with what I read when I clicked on the blog.

I think that you are wrong, Martin, whilst at the same time agree that (a) it is important that your messages get out and (b) they are all, to some extent, as bad as each other.
And so I don't really know what the answer is.
Would it be possible to take a break from the column for a few weeks, maybe?


I would also like to point out, in repsonse to many comments, that I don't think that Martin is doing this for the money, per-se. I don't think that he needs the money from it. I think Martin has two reasons for doing this - 1. to increase his public exposure and draw readers to this site and 2. because he honestly does believe that his message is important.

payless

If not prepared to pull out publically at this stage - then a holding statement would have been better than what really is seen as an endorsement of current management
like...
I'm sickened, awaiting investigation and discussion with current management and considering position...

whitewing

I think it is worse that he wrote a blog about it, set up a discussion here, completely disregarded the opinions on the thread, and updated 'his' decision on the comments section of his blog.

I don't actually think it is his decision to stay with the column. I think he has been 'persuaded' to stay with the scumbags.

I think Rebekah Brooks should definitely go.

theblagger

I also think its not just martin who should stop writing ..as shinkyshonky has wrote here

http://www.bitterwallet.com/how-to-get-your-message-to-the-news-of-the-worlds-advertisers/46636/comment-page-1#comment-151488

mzungu74

Does Martin read the forum? It is clear from this thread and the one with the poll that by FAR the majority of MSE'rs are appalled at Martin's decision.

Surely he will change his mind today? I am not at all comfortable with the fact we are all posting our thoughts and views to Martin here and they seem to be ignored while he is happy to Tweet and blog on the far less important subject of faulty goods.

Martin, I'm afraid to say but as the hours go by I, and many others, are losing respect for you as a person and your reputation and that of your business are being severely damaged. You still have time to do the right thing. And if you don't then I think that means I have completely misjudged you and what I thought your values were.

The Twitter campaign has been very effective in persuading advertisers to pull out of the NOTW.
twitter.com/MartinSLewis is Martins Twitter account. I would urge anyone who agrees Martin should resign from the NOTW to Tweet him your thoughts.

M74

Paulgonnabedebtfree

As someone who worked in the printing trade in the 1980s, I have never knowingly bought a News International publication since. Therefore I was not aware that Martin wrote for NOTW.
Of course most of us have some sort of choice about how we earn a living - though my guess would be that Martin has more choices than most.
Although not religious, I would recall the bit about whoever has no sin casting the first stone.
I probably buy cheap clothes that have been made on the back of another's poverty. Likewise for other things that I buy. In my life I have sometimes lied, stolen or cheated. Sometimes I have hurt another's feelings. As I've got older - and a little wiser - I have overcome the worst of my issues and these days any lying is usually restricted to the "does my bum look big in this?" type of lie.

So I've made many wrong calls and I'm not going to judge Martin if he's making a wrong one (if indeed he is).

It's easy to say "dump the barstewards" from here. Would I dump one of my biggest customers if I disapproved of their morals? Depends really. As a window cleaner, I probably have less choices than Martin. If the issue bothered me enough, I would probably seek new customers before looking at ditching them.

I don't particularly like the !!!! end of tabloid journalism anyway. However, it's difficult to buy a newspaper that doesn't have some kind of agenda. I recall Paul Foot used to write for the Mirror exposing all sorts of scandals and dubious dealings that were hidden from us mere mortals. One day he wanted to expose someone high up in the Mirror and it was bye-bye Paul Foot.

Martin uses the argument that (so the editor told him) the incident(s) happened around 2002 and do not happen now. Maybe that is true - maybe not. The argument does have some mileage in it if he's been told the truth. However, relying on truthfulness from such an organisation would be a bad idea IMO.

There is also the argument that other tabloids are equally guilty and that moving his articles elsewhere would result in a similar situation in the near future. I don't doubt that this is probably true. I doubt that there is any media organisation out there that hasn't pushed the boundaries at times. I imagine that all have crossed a line and that the only decision remaining is as to where that line is drawn. Undoubtedly there will be as many views about this as there are people.

As for the MSE message reaching people who need it, I acknowledge that this could be tricky. The explosion of the internet has largely taken care of that already but there are plenty of people who don't have this facility. Maybe the next NOTW article should be about cancelling newspapers and getting free internet access at libraries (when they aren't being closed) . Funnily enough, although an internet user since the mid 90s, my first ever contact with MSE was via a small book from a bookshop (which I paid for ). So it doesn't necessarily follow that because someone has the internet, they know about MSE.

Personally, if I had choices, I think I would start looking for options that didn't involve News International or, for that matter, the tabloid press.
However, I am not Martin. If he decides to stay with NOTW I think I would view as how a parent might view a wayward son. You don't like what they've done but you will forgive them anyway.

Although Martin has a pleasant demeanour about him, I think that even he wouldn't presume that his articles increase NOTW circulation - so there's no issue with that.

I hope that whatever decision Martin ends up making, it comes from himself rather than outside (including this thread).

A couple of other things:- (1) The journalist(s) that hacked Milly Dowler's voicemail box. Although clearly wrong and very stupid, I sincerely hope that they didn't think along the lines of "If I do this, people may think that she's still alive." If this is the case, then that journalist needs locking up. However, I suspect that it was more likely to have been done without thought. This would make it stupid rather than malicious but still worthy of marginally lesser punishment (IMO). I understand that messages were deleted in order to make space for (possible) newer messages to drop in. Of course such an act would have the potential to throw a police investigation off course.

(2) There really ought to be better publicity from the mobile phone companies about how we can prevent such hacking. I don't know if things have changed but you used to be able to gain access from a remote phone by using a PIN when accessing the voicemail. If a PIN wasn't selected, a default PIN would be used. A journalist would only need the phone number and the default PIN. If it hasn't happened already, such a system needs an overhaul. Perhaps voicemail should not be set up until someone selects a PIN and then the number of failed access attempts should be restricted. Some or all of this may have already happened but if not, it needs to be looked at. Of course, maybe the voicemails were hacked in another way in which case the phone companies need to tighten security.

I have to admit to a certain bias against News International due to my time in the printing trade in the 80s. Some of what I've written may be coloured by this.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

soil wrote: »

Well indeed. Martin Lewis is not the messiah - he's a very naughty boy.

Although it's a serious thread, thanks for the laugh

skylight

Its not my income at stake here and its not my message to the masses, so its easy for me to say pull out.

I too "laughed" a bit when it came down to "celebs" moaning a lot. I was appaulled at Milly and the Soham girls allegations. I am really upset at the claims today that it perhaps included our soldiers families (due to family connections)

Although this is a knee-jerk reaction in stating pull-out. I think I would start looking more seriously at other avenues now in a view to pull-out, but make a decision for now that I would be following the investigation very closely on a daily basis and see what that brings.


Personally - I haven't bought a newspaper in years (Not a Diana fan, but hated the papperazi's treatment over her death). I have sold my (meagre) shares this morning and will be cancelling the SKY contract when it expires.

Chadsman

Today I called and spoke to Colin Myler, the paper’s current Editor, made my point strongly and was assured (again) the paper now is a different beast to a few years ago.

and if he told you 'gullible' was no longer in the Oxford English Dictionary would you believe that? Martin, dont be naive.

MrSmartprice

Chadsman wrote: »

and if he told you 'gullible' was no longer in the Oxford English Dictionary would you believe that? Martin, dont be naive.

So, headline:

"Martin Lewis believes what he is told by News of the World editor..."

Yep, looks pretty naive to me!:rotfl: