Posts Tagged ‘army’
Hoy Big Gob – Shut It!
Much has been written about Prince Harry and his time on the front line. I have to say that at first I wasn’t particularly interested in teh story. I always suspected that Harry would fight on the front line in some theatre of conflict. When he spoke you could see that it was something he clearly had a passion to do. I have to say as someone who has never been in the armed forces I don’t quite understand someone wanting to go somewhere where people will fire guns and any other sort of weapon at you in anger, but perhaps that’s why I have an admiration for our armed forces – I know I couldn’t do the job they have to do.
What did piss me off was the story that the news was broken (although I know believe it is mistaken) by an American website. Now how would they like it if we suddenly told the world in advcance of say a Presidential visit to Iraq. I suspect there would be an outcry. Now I know the story had been broken elsewhere, but when one of the most popular blogs in the US repeats the story – it may as well have come from that blog in the first place. The words, Hoy Big Gob – learn to keep it shut spring to mind
I myself have often had information which if I was devious or irresponsible I could have leaked. I once organised a two day visit of the Prime Minister Tony Blair, to my workplace. Did I take it upon myself to announce that to the world in advance? No I did not. Now you may say no one would be interested, but given the security checks that were put in place for the visit, I can tell you these kind of things are treated extremley seriously.
OK, you may say Harry is the elected Prime Minsiter of the country, but he is a senior Royal, and I don’t see why blogs and websites, who so often want to be regarded as being as powerful or even more powerful than the mainstream media, should be held to the same standards.
The big boys of blogging like Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes just love to have an exclusive,and they constantly get them, but would they have broken such a story? I am pretty sure they wouldn’t.
Jonathan Sheppard
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