Car crash interview

Guido Fawkes, aka Paul Staines, is a political blogger of some repute. He recently went on Newsnight, basically to moan that journalists (especially senior political ones like the BBC's Nick Robinson and the Guardian's Michael White) are too close to their contacts - the subtext being that he, conversely, is unafraid to speak the truth.

All very well, except that Staines:

(a) Insists on appearing in disguise, thus looking like a complete wanker
(b) Claims Lord Levy is involved in a court "trial", when he isn't
(c) Claims to have broken the news story about 10 Downing Street having a second e-mail system (in which to supposedly hide sensitive messages relating to the "Loans for Peerages" investigation) - a story which turned out to be at best flawed and at worst false
(d) Claims the source for the above story was Nick Robinson, which he later admits is not true - and is forced to apologise

All in all, Staines comes across as a bit of a twat. As someone who constantly blogs about "lying" politicians, lazy journalists and other criminal sorts, it's probably not a great idea to be caught lying yourself - and to claim that your biggest story ever came from... er, a BBC journalist.

You can watch the interview here:

Meanwhile, in response to the whole issue, Nick Robinson's blog has some interesting thoughts on the relationship between journalists and their contacts:

In order for specialist journalists (whether health or legal or political reporters) to know their subject inside out they have to build working relationships with those they report on. Having worked at Panorama for some years, I know that it is sometimes easier for someone coming from outside to make the big "mother of a blow out" investigation without fear of burning their contacts. I went on to argue that this does not stop me asking the big and tough questions when they need asking.

He then tells Guido to "Grow up":

There will always - thank god - be a role for partisan, campaigning or satirical reporting of politics elsewhere. However, it will almost always build on or react to what's on the mainstream media. For example, if they want to comment on what Gordon Brown's planning to do as prime minister they'll rely on someone who can talk to him and those around him to find out.

I have to say I agree. And yes, I am a professional hack, so I would say that...