Neville Thurlbeck: March 2012

Thursday, 29 March 2012

Guardian Makes a Monkey of Itself - Again

THE GUARDIAN’S ability to misreport the facts never ceases to amaze this blog.

Today their media diarist claims my wife told me to personally apologise to Mary Ellen Field for the fact that her phone was hacked by the News of the World.

And that when I did so, she was “confounded”, telling the Guardian: “Myself and Mark Lewis [her lawyer] were extremely surprised. We didn't know what to say. We were speechless."

Responsible journalism, the Guardian would like to tell us, is about gathering information and asking the subject of the article to comment before going to press.

Alas, no such standards prevail in the 'Monkey' diary column edited by John Plunkett.

If he had bothered to call me I would have told him that upon entering City University on Monday evening, I made myself known to one of the organisers and asked to be introduced to Ms Field in private.

I was guided to where she was sitting, introduced myself and told her that as I left home, I informed my wife that I intended to apologise to her immediately on behalf of the News of the World.

I said I had read in detail how it had affected her life and I was terribly sorry. I reassured her I had not hacked her phone, commissioned the hacking or had knowledge of who did so.

I felt it was the least I could do. It would have been churlish not to do so, especially as she was sitting alongside me and the hacking fall-out has had severe effects upon her life and her health.

I went on to repeat my apology publicly during the debate. It was sincere.

Ms Field wasn’t “speechless”. She looked me in the eye and thanked me.

Her lawyer wasn’t “speechless” either. He smiled and made a joke about how I had recently lampooned his famous orange coat.

We all shook hands and we got on with the debate.

I cannot believe the Guardian have faithfully reported Ms Field’s version of the events.

And I don’t believe for one minute that Ms Field heard my fulsome apology and then went storming in outrage to the Guardian.

It would appear the Guardian would rather follow the evidence to where it would like it to be, rather than where it actually is.

It's a dangerous tactic and one it has deployed to its cost before.

Wednesday, 28 March 2012

Google Analytics

SEVERAL people have emailed anxiously asking me not to blog who precisely is reading this blog in case News International suspect them of passing information to me.

I'd never do that of course. However, the most detail that can be seen is the name of the company, if it's large enough.

Now back to the cabbage water! Cheerio!

City University Debate

Independent editor Chris Blackhurst

ENTERTAINING and interesting evening at City University on Monday.

We were there to debate, ‘The best of times or the worst of times? What are the lessons from Leveson and the hacking scandal?’

On the panel with me were Independent editor Chris Blackhurst, NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet and hacking victim and former Elle Macpherson adviser Mary-Ellen Field.

The input from the 250 students was tremendous and kept us all on our toes. A bright and well-informed lot.

Blackhurst’s contribution was particularly forthright, eloquently but boldly advancing his views on the flaws in the Leveson Inquiry.

You can read it in the Press Gazette here:

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=49014&c=1

My ramblings, on phone hacking being endemic in our industry for more than 20 years, can be read here.

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=49026&c=1

The event was organised by Dominic Ponsford, Press Gazette editor.

New Sunderland Mag Hits the Streets With 10,000 Print Run

THE NEW magazine R&R, in which I discuss life at the News of the World, is out now and can be read on-line too.

The first edition was completely sold out in advertising space ten days before launch, so its future looks promising.

The magazine is on the streets now in Sunderland and will be published every two months.

And the publishers are Andrea Thurlbeck, my sister, and her husband Andy Barker.

It can be read here:

http://www.randrlife.co.uk/

The Press Gazette also featured their launch too, which can be read here:

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=49025&c=1

80,000 Hits. My Career U-Turn

MORE vulgar boasting today at the 'umble 'ovel on the 'ill as we soar through the 80,000 hits barrier.

And it will be a pint of Newcastle Brown Ale and a glass of cabbage water in the scullery tonight as we also mark the 100th country which has tuned into the blog since Google Analytics were activated on February 9.

The table below shows the number of “visitors”, rather than “hits”, since February 9.

The stats also show it has been read in 1329 cities.

Which is a career U-turn.

Hitherto, at Today then the News of the World, circulations plummeted as soon as I joined.

And then they closed.

All job offers to !

1.	United Kingdom	22,486
2.	United States	1,068
3.	France	427
4.	Australia	326
5.	Ireland	230
6.	Cyprus	175
7.	Germany	163
8.	Spain	140
9.	Canada	100
10.	(not set)	100
11.	Poland	89
12.	Hong Kong	64
13.	Netherlands	61
14.	Finland	59
15.	Japan	55
16.	United Arab Emirates	54
17.	Belgium	52
18.	Switzerland	49
19.	New Zealand	41
20.	Austria	38
21.	South Africa	37
22.	India	36
23.	Greece	33
24.	Italy	33
25.	Sweden	29
26.	Thailand	27
27.	Portugal	26
28.	Singapore	23
29.	Taiwan	19
30.	Russia	16
31.	Isle of Man	15
32.	Norway	13
33.	Philippines	13
34.	Denmark	12
35.	Israel	12
36.	Kenya	11
37.	China	9
38.	Qatar	9
39.	Mexico	8
40.	Brazil	7
41.	Jamaica	7
42.	Turkey	7
43.	Vietnam	7
44.	Guernsey	6
45.	Malta	6
46.	Malaysia	6
47.	Romania	6
48.	Hungary	5
49.	Cambodia	5
50.	Bermuda	4
51.	Gibraltar	4
52.	Guyana	4
53.	Croatia	4
54.	Indonesia	4
55.	Jersey	4
56.	Peru	4
57.	Seychelles	4
58.	Belize	3
59.	Czech Republic	3
60.	Algeria	3
61.	Egypt	3
62.	South Korea	3
63.	Saint Lucia	3
64.	Saudi Arabia	3
65.	Uganda	3
66.	Barbados	2
67.	Bulgaria	2
68.	Belarus	2
69.	Estonia	2
70.	Guam	2
71.	Iceland	2
72.	Moldova	2
73.	Nigeria	2
74.	Pakistan	2
75.	Serbia	2
76.	Trinidad and Tobago	2
77.	Zimbabwe	2
78.	Afghanistan	1
79.	Netherlands Antilles	1
80.	Argentina	1
81.	Azerbaijan	1
82.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1
83.	Bangladesh	1
84.	Benin	1
85.	Bolivia	1
86.	Bahamas	1
87.	Chile	1
88.	Colombia	1
89.	Ecuador	1
90.	Cayman Islands	1
91.	Lebanon	1
92.	Sri Lanka	1
93.	Luxembourg	1
94.	Morocco	1
95.	Monaco	1
96.	Mongolia	1
97.	Panama	1
98.	Slovenia	1
99.	Senegal	1
100.	Yemen	1

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