Gather round, it& #39;s story time for everyone who hates reporters & journalists (a distinction few with Very Strong Opinions on the & #39;news& #39; profession seem to grasp).

I was a regional telly researcher in the early 90s, regularly sent out to doorstep Arthur Scargill. It was a game. https://twitter.com/BenJolly9/status/1283873331939246080">https://twitter.com/BenJolly9...
Scargill was a hate figure for anyone to the right of, say, Tony Benn.

Like Corbyn, he was awful at handling the media.

I liked him. As a bloke. He did my head in as a communicator.

The relationship between the media & Scargill was a game. A sort of Pantomime.
Like Corbyn, Scargill was outrageously smeared by an unscrupulous establishment (& subsequently cleared of the worst smear).

But this story is about the relationship between Scargill & the media. Or, as I came to see it, the game. The Panto.
Those of us journalists based in Sheffield, who met Scargill often, always gave him fair coverage. Sometimes he did a Corbo & refused to engage, but we had ok relationships with him. He knew we were ordinary folk, doing local work.
I was based at a radio station, for local BBC telly, so I saw him often when he came in for interviews.

Bonus fun fact. Scargill is a really funny bloke, especially as an impersonator.

I came to see his media persona as 100% character acting. The Very Dangerous Radical.
But there was a very different relationship with network news, to whom we often supplied footage & interviews.

Because telly news relies on pictures I& #39;d often be sent, with a camera crew, to get some.

Even if there was no content to be had.
So I& #39;d ring his assistant, Nell Myers, to request an interview. And if she refused, our masters in London would insist that we doorstep him.

I& #39;ve wasted many an afternoon hanging around with a crew, outside NUM HQ, just to get a shot of Scargill& #39;s car arriving or departing.
It was fucking ludicrous. But we had to do it.

One time I couldn& #39;t get hold of Nell, so I went down to NUM HQ & spent 20 minutes searching the (mostly unoccupied) building until I found Arthur& #39;s office. I knocked, went in & he just smiled & said & #39;no& #39;.

It was a total game.
One time I rebelled, because it was immoral. Network news demanded an interview & I knew he wasn& #39;t at work & wasn& #39;t going to talk.

I told them.

They ordered me to doorstep him at home.

I went, with a crew. I didn& #39;t knock. We claimed the mileage & went home.

Sorry, lads.
Like Corbyn, Scargill hated the national media for good reason.

Like Corbyn, Scargill was a sort of entertainment.

This is why they doorstep Corbyn today.

It& #39;s not for your edification. It& #39;s to fill black screen space because telly news is about pictures. It& #39;s entertainment.
Also, there& #39;s a world of difference between journalists & reporters serving a local community & the & #39;big names& #39; serving a national audience.

So, friends on the left, stop the fuck celebrating local journalists losing their jobs.
Now support great local journalism. Start by following @JayMitchinson & @LiamThorpECHO

It& #39;s where the good work is done. The work I have seen too many on the left celebrate the demise of.
You can follow @MikeH_PR.
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