Mr Norman Fowler: I am sure that the hon. Gentleman wants to be fair to those people who advocate a broadcasting council and that he recognises the distinction between a censoring body and a body able to give redress to those people who are or who believe they are harmed by broadcasting activities.
Mr Norman Fowler: Is the hon. and learned Gentleman saying that the Evening News and the Evening Standard should be automatically excluded from consideration for a central news station? If that is his view, will he answer this further question? He has made a lot of what I take to be his fear of bias, and political bias at that. Can he give any examples from commercial television showing where editorial content...
Mr Norman Fowler: But the hon. and learned Gentleman must be aware that not all the news on television is provided by I.T.N. Newspaper groups have interests in regional stations producing regional news of their own kind. He has not answered my question. Has he any evi- dence that a newspaper holding has led to bias in that regional news?
Mr Norman Fowler: Surely this enables the newspapers to supplement the news service that is provided by the central news service. This seems a flexible arrangement. It does not mean that it replaces the news service.
Mr Norman Fowler: Mr. Fowler rose—
Mr Norman Fowler: As a journalist with fewer vested interests than many, I suspect, I should like to ask the hon. Gentleman for the slightest hint of what he imagines to be meant by "suitably qualified journalists". As he has criticised the Bill for being vague, he has a small duty at least to give a hint of the meaning he attaches to the term.
Mr Norman Fowler: I very much support what my right hon. Friend is doing in his Amendment. The hon. and learned Member for Barons Court (Mr. Richard) yesterday invited me to look very closely at subsection (6), and I have done so. I have a certain sympathy with it, but there are great difficulties, particularly that of defining "suitably qualified journalists". When I was in Fleet Street a suitably qualified...
Mr Norman Fowler: I am happy to say that the hon. Gentleman has now, perforce of circumstance, given up his public relations rôle and has come back into the journalistic ranks, to which, without presumption, I welcome him. In the vast majority of cases with which we are dealing, journalists will, I am sure, be employed to do the news-gathering. This is for the simple reason that news-gathering is a...
Mr Norman Fowler: The hon. Gentleman will no doubt make his own contribution. Personally, I accept that the journalistic function will be carried out predominantly by experienced journalists. However, it is one thing to expect that the natural laws governing journalism and newspapers will also govern the news-gathering process in local radio, so that the function will be carried out by journalists, but it is...
Mr Norman Fowler: I do not accept this. The hon. Gentleman is quite wrong. Many of the people whom he and I may regard as anchor men have done a great deal of news-gathering themselves. It would be a brave announcer who went on presenting a programme without being fully briefed and without having done much of the research himself. I do not accept the distinction the hon. Gentleman is making and I stand firmly...
Mr Norman Fowler: I really think that the hon. Member should mind his language slightly on this. We happen to disagree, and this is a point which I have put at National Union of Journalists meetings, but that does not necessarily mean that I am a lukewarm member of it. Moreover, I would point out to the hon. Member that I represent my constituency, and not the N.U.J.
Mr Norman Fowler: asked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications what fresh representations he has received on the need for an independent broadcasting council.
Mr Norman Fowler: That is probably because the public have not yet caught up with my right hon. Friend in his new appointment. Will he recognise that the call for a broadcasting council is a call not for censorship but to try to find means whereby the public may have some kind of redress? Rather than give a snap answer to the call for an independent broadcasting council today, will my right hon. Friend at...
Mr Norman Fowler: Does my right hon. Friend agree that, although this is undoubtedly a difficult problem, the number of police recruited reflects the number of applicants and the number of applications which are made? Does he further agree that the Metropolitan Police are anxious to recruit more coloured policemen into the service and that, therefore, any suggestion that this shows that there is some bias in...
Mr Norman Fowler: asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints were made against the police in forces in England and Wales, including the Metropolitan Police, in each of the last three years; and what proportion of these complaints were substantiated.
Mr Norman Fowler: I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. In view of the current criticism of the police, may I ask my right hon. Friend whether he agrees that the figures show that, generally, the standards of the police are exceptionally high in this matter? Would he not also agree that the figures indicate that many of the complaints are made either irresponsibly or with malice?
Mr Norman Fowler: I want to deal with the second of the two debates which the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Dell) pointed out are taking place—the question of the charge of negligence against Mr. Jardine and whether, even if we conclude that the proceedings against him were decided in the right and proper way, he should have some means of redress. The first point to make is concerned with the...
Mr Norman Fowler: Is not the point that these remarks were directed at magistrates, and would not my right hon. Friend agree that the magistrate has an opportunity of heading off a criminal career, whereas an unduly lenient sentence may encourage, rather than deter, crime?
Mr Norman Fowler: asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the current strength of the Royal Ulster Constabulary; how far this is short of establishment; and whether he will make a statement on the progress of recruiting.
Mr Norman Fowler: I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Does he agree that the Royal Ulster Constabulary has been subject in the past to a great deal of unjustified criticism? Does he also agree that a strong civil police force is in the true interests of all the people in Northern Ireland and that, therefore, policies for increasing recruitment should be given the highest priority?