early pioneer of misleading spin complains about ‘feral media’

Tony “Saddam has WMDs which can be ready to attack us in 45 minutes” Blair is using his lame-duck period between now and the end of June to whine about the media. In particular he is unhappy that there has been a deterioration in the relationship between the government and media during his time in office. He doesn’t seem to put his finger on the probable cause, his government’s systematic use of spin, deception and outright lies to twist public debate in every conceivable way.

Blair notes (about ten years late, it seems) that misleading information can make it hard to make sound decisions about the future:

The damage saps the country’s confidence and self-belief; it undermines its assessment of itself and its institutions; and above all it reduces our capacity to take the right decisions in the right spirit for the future.

He doesn’t mention whether he considers such ‘decisions’ to include the random invasion of other countries. And of course he blames the media, not his own spin doctors, for the breakdown in the previously blissful marriage between government and media in England, and in typically New Labour fashion he then proposes a centralisation and consolidation of government control over the media as the best solution (not, for example, only telling the truth and speaking as objectively as possible at all times when in government).

How will Blair be remembered? Sometimes he gives the distinct impression of being a very ideological person who believes what he is doing is entirely good and right, and believes it very strongly. Sometimes it’s even possible to feel sorry for him for lashing himself to the mast of the foundering ship of the Bush Administration in a fit of trans-Atlantic comradeship after September 11.

But only sometimes.

Saddam Hussein’s regime is despicable, he is developing weapons of mass destruction, and we cannot leave him doing so unchecked. He is a threat to his own people and to the region and, if allowed to develop these weapons, a threat to us also.

- in the House of Commons, April 2002

I think most people who have dealt with me, think I’m a pretty straight sort of guy, and I am.

- in the happier days of 1997