The Indy-gate scandal is gathering momentum in the media following Kelner’s un-apology.
- Dan Hannan in the Telegraph is derisory about the Indy’s misinformation.
- Roy Greenslade in his widely read (by hacks) Guardian blog returns to the issue for a second time.
- James Forsyth over at the Speccie’s CoffeeHouse wonders “What would The Independent say if another newspaper had done the same on Iraq?”
- Iain Dale doesn’t think this over yet. “Not by a long way.” Nor does Guido.
- Melanie Phillips thinks Indy-gate “a practice associated with the unfree press in totalitarian societies. Once again, the blogosphere has shown its power to hold the mainstream media sharply to account and inflict real damage to its reputation.”
The newspaper’s readers surely deserve to know the truth. Is it now the editorial policy of the Independent to reprint lengthy government press releases word-for-word if Andy Grice* agrees with them? Shouldn’t the Indy flag up when it is re-printing government press releases – “This information was supplied by the government, we are reprinting it in its entirety on the front page because we agree with it.” Perhaps a little “Government Approved” logo would suffice?*According to Simon Kelner “what we printed was a collection of facts, which our political editor independently verified.”
