Because it isn't
Sir: On 1 February you published a bluster- ing attack on pop music criticism (Arts) by one Michael Henderson, who, it was stated, 'writes on sport for the Times'. In this piece he complained that music journalists were responsible for both `the corruption of lan- guage' and 'the perversion of manners'. How astonishing, then, that a man making a claim for high journalistic standards should have so little respect for accuracy.
In the midst of Henderson's diatribe, I was intrigued to read the following about myself: 'Robin Denselow, the BBC reporter, challenged to justify his choice of the best record ever made, replied "Because it is." Dear, oh dear. . . .
When I rang Henderson to ask where this unfamiliar quote came from, he told me to look in a compilation of critics' favourite albums, not a recent volume but a long-out-of-print book published 19 years ago. When I dug that up, I found it con- tained no such quote from me. There is a slightly different quote from someone else, but, needless to say, he was not being 'chal- lenged' but expressing his enthusiasm for a particular album, I rang Henderson again, for an explanation. 'Isn't it terrible the things that some journalists do?' he replied. Dear, oh dear, indeed. I only hope that Henderson treats his sports reporting a lit- tle more seriously. I look forward to his apology.
Robin Denselow
Newsnight, BBC Television, London W12
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