Speaking truth to power

(Thank you to all for your kind comments and 100th blip birthday greetings.)

Today I am at Salford University to see the awards given to the best young investigative journalists in the UK. The award is in honour of my former boss at Granada TV, Ray Fitzwalter, the legendary Editor of equally legendary World In Action, in whose footsteps I was privileged to follow. Ray, was a fearless campaigning and investigative journalist best known perhaps for a tireless but ultimately successful battle to overturn the convictions of the 6 Irishmen wrongly jailed for the Birmingham Pub bombings in1974 during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Ray died 2 years ago, and his loss is felt keenly not just by his colleagues, but by all those who care about the integrity of journalism which is under attack both by politicians and those at the helm of so-called mainstream media which as we have witnessed in recent weeks is in danger of becoming the slavish uncritical poodle of the State.
The ending of World in Action was a huge blow to independent-minded challenging journalism, and its fearless reporting has rarely been equalled since.