Call Yourself A Journalist?

Here on Zelo Street, there is always concern at the general wellbeing even of the blog’s critics: as I pointed out after the sudden death of Andrew Breitbart, politics is not worth taking so seriously that being committed to it causes you harm. And there is increasing concern this weekend at both the state of mind, and the continued lack of journalistic skills, of the odious flannelled fool Henry Cole.

 

Of course I'm a journalist, cos I'm on telly!

Master Cole, who has in the past at least tried not to look too obvious when accusing others of doing exactly what he does, is clearly past caring at the prospect of being called out as a hypocrite and a bully as he has tried unsuccessfully to browbeat Joe Dromey into a Q&A, and then written up a “story” that has very little basis in fact. He will then pretend to laugh it all off later, and wonder why he is alone in so doing.

No bullying here, and no projection ...

The underlying fact is that Dromey complained to the PCC about a Daily Mail piece that suggested he had somehow been involved in the selection of Labour candidates in Southwark and Lambeth. He had copied his Mum (Harriet Harman) on the letter as the piece also referred to her (the Mail does not pass up any opportunity to smear Ms Harman, no matter how tenuous or tangential the connection).

... no invention, no dishonesty, and certainly no stalking

A correction was duly made. So far, so routine. But Cole saw this only through the prism of rank paranoia and the haze of his suitably liquid lunch, and so began his amateurish attempt to bully Dromey, talking of the “chilling effect” of someone having the audacity to use the PCC, and pretending that Dromey not having asked Ms Harman’s permission to copy her on the letter has any significance at all.

A post where the obvious petty jealousy ...

This last is perplexingly lame: who asks the permission of anyone that they might copy in, unless there is some prior understanding otherwise? What is “chilling” about taking the same course of action that is available to anyone else? Had Dromey and Ms Harman pursued a complaint by means not available to others, Cole may have had a point. They didn’t, so he doesn’t.

... is equally as bad as the non-existent "journalism"

And what is a barrage of Tweets demanding answers, if not bullying? What credible journalist behaves like that? That level of pestering, if directed by others towards him, would have Cole squealing “Stalker!” and invoking Olbermann’s Dictum. But he continues to play out his fantasy of Labour stitch-ups, telling the Guido Fawkes blog’s more impressionable readers of how Dromey “stands accused”.

This is equally lame: it’s the same as Andrew “transcription error” Gilligan linking Lutfur Rahman to extremism, then saying “look – he’s extremist-linked”. The post is full of pretend demons (non-existent Leveson connections, threats to papers that don’t threaten easily, accusations of preferential treatment that was not given), with the clear impression of petulance, jealousy – and journalistic inadequacy.

Call yourself a journalist, Cole? Put that in your CV and see how far it gets you.