#jo moore

Within an hour of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on 11th September 2001, Government adviser Jo Moore wrote an e-mail to her press office saying “It’s now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury.  Councillors’ expenses?”  The e-mail became public and she was roundly condemned by the media for being tasteless and cynical.

This is true, but it is also a condemnation of her media critics for missing other extremely important matters when there is a single major issue in the media’s mind.  They repeatedly fail to cover “other news” in these circumstances.  The Chinese leadership in Beijing is clever enough to exploit this and there was very little coverage of the arrest of 15 pro democracy activists in Hong Kong over the weekend.

There’s more on https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-52338493?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/asia&link_location=live-reporting-story  Beijing has taken the opportunity to move when the world’s eyes are looking elsewhere and coronavirus makes mass protests unwise.  Their cynical move to continue to expand their power makes Jo Moore look benevolent in comparison.

A week for bad news

I recall Jo Moore, who had her memo leaked that said (on Sept 11 2001) “It is now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury.” When events such as the Paris shootings happen, it is interesting to see what other events are in the news. Indeed while Jo Moore’s statement/memo was crude, it was none the less rather true. Any other news will get pushed out of the news front pages and often…