'Flat Earth News' and the Jersey child abuse scandal (Part 2)

My main site has now been updated and I've added Part 2 of 'Flat Earth News and the Jersey child abuse scandal'. It was my original intention to deal in this part not only with the history of modern investigative journalism but also with the North Wales story. I'm afraid though that this has turned out to be almost entirely a historical piece which adds quite a lot to the discussion of Nick Davies's book but nothing to the specifics of the Jersey case.

It's a fascinating story about the role played by the non-conformist churches and what I call the 'pornography of righteousness' in shaping the New Journalism but it's about the big picture rather than the details:

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In Flat Earth News Nick Davies criticises other journalists for failing to confirm their stories before publishing them. Yet in offering the view of journalism he presents in his book he has failed to check the most basic facts of all – the facts of history. . . . more