Day One - The Society of Editors Opening Lecture
Paul Dacre launched the Society's conference with an explosive speech! Read Simon Buck's introduction to Paul Dacre's here (Word format) Report by Jess Best and Rob Alderson Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre launched a scathing attack on journalism’s enemies both in and outside of the industry in the opening speech of the Society of Editors Conference 2008 Mr Dacre also had sharp words for the BBC, conditional fee arrangements (CFAs) and the protracted lawsuits they encourage. But he concluded by urging an end to the culture of self-loathing that he feels is undermining the industry.  Arguing that the press had a duty to report scandal, Mr Dacre accused Mr Justice Eady of prioritising privacy at the expense of freedom of expression. He said: “The freedom of the press is far too important to be left to the somewhat desiccated values of a single judge who clearly has an animus against the popular press and the right of people to freedom of expression. “While London boasts scores of eminent judges, one man is given a virtual monopoly of cases against the media enabling him to bring in a privacy law by the back door.” In this rare public speech, Mr Dacre also criticised the increasing dependency on CFAs to bring legal actions against large media organisations. He said: “The result is that today newspapers think long and hard before contesting actions even if they know they are in the right for fear of the ruinous financial implications. “For the provincial and local press, such actions are now almost out of the question.”
He said: “Something must be done about…the ever growing ubiquity of the BBC. For make no mistake, we are witnessing the seemingly inexorable growth of what it effectively a dominant, state-sponsored news service. “It is destroying media plurality in Britain and in its place imposing a liberal, leftish, monoculture that is destroying free and open debate in Britain.” Mr Dacre also challenged broadsheet media commentators to stop undermining confidence in the British newspaper industry. “Why does not a day go by that the subsidariat papers- blissfully oblivious of the own pocket-sized shapes and circulations- don’t carry the obligatory sneer at the tabloid press? “Today, with large parts of our industry fighting to stay alive it is damnably, unforgivably, and depressingly damaging.” He continued by saying that falling circulation figures were at least in part due to national newspapers’ failure to connect with their readers.
He suggested several ways in which he industry could weather the current storm. He said cover prices should be lowered and managers had to more realistic in their expectations for profit margins. While praising Gordon Brown’s dedication to freedom of the press, he insisted that government ownership and merger regulations had to be relaxed. Finally, Mr Dacre said it was essential for media organisations to find ways of making money from their websites. Asked about how this could be done, Mr Dacre said: “Nobody knows. Of course eventually somebody will have to lead from the front, but at the moment I don’t know how it will happen.” In his speech he added: “If we can’t this head long plunge into the web will turn out to have been suicidal lunacy.” Closing the speech, Mr Dacre reminded the audience while they still faced many challenges, the industry had overcome difficulties before. He said: “Let’s be proud of our industry, let’s stop this drip, drip, drip of self-denigration. I remain certain that - while our business is currently changing faster than any time I can remember - there will be golden days again in the future.” View a gallery of photographs from the reception on board ss Great Britain and the opening speech by Paul Dacre [<< back] |
Paul Dacre Editor, Daily Mail, Editor-in-Chief, Associated Newspapers, chairman of the Editors' Code Committee 
He outlined the desperate state of local newspapers and blamed the BBC’s aggressive pursuit of the local news market for contributing to their decline.
He said: “I worry that too many journalists write only for other journalists. Large parts of the media are increasingly populated by privileged elite of top university graduates who…are impervious to what the great majority of people are thinking, removed as they are from commercial imperative of actually connecting with enough readers to make their papers financially viable.”