The press

The war of the Tinies

Paul Johnson

y one of those quirks of English irony LP which baffle foreigners, both the pro-

prietor and the editor of the Observer are known as Tiny, Rowland because he is huge, Donald Trelford because he is small. Peering into the quarrel between these two Tinies is like intruding into private grief, though the dispute is not without its comic side. Its origins lie not in Matabeleland but in Oman. Trelford was initially reluctant to launch a smear campaign against the That- cher family over the Oman contract. Right- ly, as it turned out, he feared that the story would not stand up, and that the vendetta would damage the reputation of the Observer more than the Thatchers. But he was talked into it, and once the story was launched, and the flak began to fly, he became increasingly committed, on the lines of the Macbeth Syndrome:

I am in blood Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er.

The effect of the Oman story on the Observer was fourfold. First, it damaged the paper's image as a serious, responsible and accurate newspaper. It may be that a number of Fleet Street journalists approve of the anti-Thatcher family vendetta, but outside the world of journalism it has found no support at all, except among the dregs of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Secondly, it irritated Tiny Rowland, who says he disapproved of it but who found himself unfairly accused, by people in the Thatcher entourage, of orchestrating it for his own mysterious ends. Thirdly, it showed the irrelevance and impotence of the so- called independent directors, who were sup- posed to hold a watching brief to ensure that the paper's standards were not betrayed. Rowland calls them 'freeloaders' and has cut their stipends from £5,000 a year to £1,000.

Can you blame him? While the Observer was rolling in the gutter, conducting a wholly unsubstantiated smear campaign without precedent in the paper's history, we did not hear a squeak of protest from this quintet of high-minded sinecurists. The only person who emerged with credit was a

Lonrho-appointed director, Lord Shawcross, a former Chairman of the Press Council, who though now in his eighties, protested indignantly against a gross abuse of journalistic power.

The fourth consequence of the Oman campaign was still more unfortunate: it seems to have evoked in Trelford the atavistic urge to become an 'Investigative Journalist' himself — though it was a delayed-action effect. It is always dangerous when editors get the itch to write

stories, particulary if they are of a sensa- tional nature. It nearly always leads to disaster because a big story from an excited reporter requires a cool editor back home. An editor should never keep wicket to his own fast bowling. Of course editors should travel, see people, talk to prime ministers, and generally keep themselves well-briefed. It is sometimes quite in order for an editor, by agreement, to publish his conversations with foreign statesmen: that is a practice oc- casionally followed by William Deedes of the Daily Telegraph, in this and other respects a model for Fleet Street editors.

But 'Investigative Journalism' is not for editors; other people are paid to do that, and know if they get it wrong they can be disavowed without too much damage to the paper. To be fair to Trelford, he did not go out to Zimbabwe with the intention of doing a hatchet job. Having supposedly distanced himself, as an editor, from Lonrho as a proprietor, he naively allowed the company, and Tiny Rowland personal- ly, to play a part in organising his trip and setting up his interviews. It was only when he got out there, and especially after he had been pointed in the right direction by his colleague, Neil Acherson, that he ex- perienced a rush of investigative blood to the head. Thereafter his behaviour to those who helped to organise his trip was not very straightforward, and both Lonrho and the government have a right to feel they were mislead. What made matters worse is that Trelford appears to have spent only three working days in the country, and only 24 hours on the story itself. That is what I call `Fill me in, Old Boy' journalism. It is just not good enough for a long, sensational ar- ticle containing accusations of the utmost gravity. Trelford should have stayed at least another week, as those who had arranged his trip expected. He should have in- vestigated the allegations much more thoroughly, and in particular he should have put them to Mugabe at a second inter- view, which could certainly have been ar- ranged. What Trelford did was exactly the behaviour which gets journalists a bad name: a lightning trip, a snap decision on whom to believe, then instant print.

None of this is to dispute the essential truth of Trelford's allegations, the substance of which had already been published in the Sunday Times and the Dai- ly Telegraph. There is not much doubt that the Mugabe regime is engaged in a course of mass-murder, of genocide almost, in Matabeleland, to destroy the tribal basis of Nkomo's support. This is not only happen- ing: it was foreseeable when Rhodesia was given its independence. Mugabe's behaviour is entirely in character.

Long before he got himself a man of violence who would not

have the smallest scruple about killing,. it necessary on a large scale. But which newspaper, of all the British press, most enthusiastic in hastening the Political process which inevitably gave power to this monster? Why, the Observer of course' And who was editing the Observer at the time? Donald Trelford. I did not detect the arsmtiacillee.st note of mea culpa in his accusatory

Many Fleet Street journalists, and vir" tually all those who work on the Observer, will rally round Trelford over this issue. O, j

anything not involving their professional work, journalists tend to have poor judg..,, ment, huddling together like frightened rabbits in their threatened burrow. Tt independent' directors have predictably taken an anti-Rowland line. They would' wouldn't they? But in my view Trelford has journalism ournalism a disservice. No one sup' ports more strongly than I do the PrinciFie of editor's prerogative. That prerogativ,e must be exercised against both staff an management, if necessary. It is the only sure and solid foundation for the freedom o f the press. But like any other prerogative' it is qualified. The owners of the Paper i must have the ultimate right to control the, editor, because at the end of the week (11°' are responsible for ensuring that the re envelopes are filled and bills paid. An editor whose conduct of the paper jeopardises th.f process must be brought to book and I necessary u ecessary sacked. Thanks to the interven; tion of the Monopolies Commission an the government, laying down rules which denounced at the time as unworkable, 0; unreal situation has been created at the Observer. Rowland and his company obliged to pay the deficit, which is runniilleg a week or more, whlhe at having n'llf control over the quality of t". paper and no power to put things rig This unreality has led Trelford to behave a., though in a dream world. The doctrine. he is now propounding is not prerogative: it is the Divine Right ofeEd.clItit°er_rs. only 'n0obnsseernvsaet uirt, i es "epset r nNfi coi oi fu That hnaot n isse For an editor to arrogate to himself solute power over content while accept!" no obligations to the commercial well-beicrlieg

.

of the paper, is exactly what Baldwinnounced in Rothermere and Beaverbroo‘,..e

to

1931: 'power without responsibility, prerogative of the harlot through the qesor. The truth is, an editor and a proPrieter must get on together, especially if the PaP„1 is losing money, by a process of Hitherto trust and civilised give-and-take. .-1-- erith this appered to have been happening with two Tinies, despite all the intrinsic rd ficulties of the position. Indeed, Trelf°0 has often boasted about how well he 3„01 Rowland understood each other. It was "er, Tiny Rowland who dissolved this Par° f theship. He was not the aggressor. For rhos the us who respect and indeed lovet " hing Observer, it is a sad tale. I hope soine

can be saved from the wreck.