Interview: Guy Black, PCC director/Conservative Party (Evening Standard)
By David Rowan
IT has taken a month of persistent lobbying to prise Michael Howard's new spin doctor out of the shadows. When Guy Black finally agrees to talk, he makes clear that this interview "will be the last anybody sees or hears from me for quite some considerable time". After seven years as director of the Press Complaints Commission, few are better placed than Black to understand that subtle behind-the-scenes forces are what really shape the news agenda.
The appointment of Black, 39, as director of communications is a coup for the Conservative Party. He is on first-name terms with every national newspaper editor, goes on holiday with the present editor of The Sun, and counts television executives and celebrities among his impeccable social contacts. For good measure, his partner, Mark Bolland, is Prince Charles's former press adviser and now writes a News of the World column.
"I guess what I'll bring to the job is a special knowledge about how this industry works," Black says in the PCC offices near Fleet Street, which he finally vacates next week. "Not just national newspapers, but the regional press, which has more readers during the course of the week. I'm not sure others have acknowledged their influence - there is a huge opportunity there."
He is not, he insists, being brought in simply to turn the Murdoch papers back to the Tory cause, despite his close relationships there (he grew up in Brentwood, Essex, with Ross Kemp, who is married to Rebekah Wade, editor of The Sun). "It would be arrogant beyond belief to think that any individual other than the News International editors will have the ultimate say," he says. Instead, he will simply build "good newspaper coverage on the back of good policies". Papers will back his party, he says, when they identify a sensible, coherent policy agenda that serves their readers' interests. "And I wouldn't be doing this job if I didn't believe the Conservatives will, not just could, win the next General Election. The party has a remarkable instinct for renewal, and anybody who says the task is impossible is wrong."
A lifelong Tory who studied history at Peterhouse, Cambridge, under Maurice Cowling, a guru of the Thatcherite Right, Black previously worked for the party in the late Eighties before moving into PR. He never sought a seat but jumped at Howard's recent offer to return to politics.
Black is charming and tactful, and chooses his words precisely, as if a lawyer. He gained a reputation at the PCC as a conciliator and a stickler for detail, but he has also made some enemies.
His friendship with Wade, formerly at the News of the World, has led to particular accusations that the commission has been soft on her papers' complaints. The Guardian was furious last summer when it was censured for paying £720 to a former cellmate of Lord Archer, just as the News of the World was exonerated for paying £10,000 to a convicted criminal whose role in the so-called "Beckham kidnap plot" led a judge to report the paper to the Attorney General.
"There isn't even a shred of truth in the suggestion that the News of the World had lightertouch regulation because I'm a friend of Rebekah," Black says firmly, never quite losing his cool. "I'm a friend of a lot of the editors. I'm a friend of a lot of the complainants. You might ask how I could possibly do this job. The answer is quite straightforward: I don't make a single judgment here. That's the job of the commission, which is independent, with a clear balance of editors and lay people." The PCC's unusually proactive investigation of The Guardian's payment, he says, was entirely consistent with the code.
But what about the News of the World's supposed "exposé" of Prince Harry's drug-taking last year which arguably duped the public? Bolland recently admitted that he and the paper knowingly conspired to create a misleading story, which Black knew about in advance. "I'm not speaking for Mark," Black says, "but that was a classic PR operation. A newspaper comes to you with evidence of all sorts of things - and what Mark and Colleen [ Harris, the Prince's former press secretary] got involved in was classic damage limitation. I've never understood the fuss." Bolland's subsequent falling-out with the Palace appears to have affected Black's own attitude towards royalty. He is remarkably critical of the royal family's recent handling of the press, notably its response to allegations about Prince Charles's sexuality.
"Since the Burrell trial, they've gone into a much more combative mode, using injunctions and legal threats," he says. "Once you hand media relations over to the lawyers, you're lost. You're no longer in control of the agenda, and you have decided to take newspapers on rather than try to work with them." This, he suggests, is a fundamental-error. "I think they are entering-dangerous territory. That's not to say it's all over - but the point about the PCC and its code is that newspapers respect it and try to stay within its terms, and you can always have a mature argument. But the moment you get a writ, then it's full steam ahead to seek some way to get round it." Within two years, he believes, the law on prepublication injunctions will have broken down as the internet inevitably leaks stories out.
HAS Black himself made any mistakes? He pauses for 13 seconds before recalling the PCC's party for its 10th anniversary in 2001. "I suppose I regret that there was an aura of it being hijacked by members of the royal family," he says, referring to the appearance of Camilla alongside Charles and William at Somerset House in 2001. "That was an accident, not design, but it's rather difficult when somebody in that position says, 'Can I come along too?' It gave the impression that we were there to give a Rolls-Royce service to members of the royal family."
Black draws two particular lessons from his time at the commission. First, huge amounts of supposedly intrusive celebrity coverage is printed with the active connivance of the individuals concerned. Genuine examples of unfair treatment, he says, can be counted on one hand. Second, he hopes action will be taken to prevent "those awful scrums" on the doorsteps of those in the news.
Journalists should take pride in the surveys which show they are the least trusted people in society. "It means they're part of a vibrant, commercial industry that's working in the public interest, ruffling feathers, scrutinising people, making nuisances of themselves from time to time," he says. "Journalists who are always being nice to people are not working in the public interest." He pauses, and smiles. "And I bet I know which bit of this interview is going to be quoted against me in the future."
(Evening Standard, December 17 2004)
IT has taken a month of persistent lobbying to prise Michael Howard's new spin doctor out of the shadows. When Guy Black finally agrees to talk, he makes clear that this interview "will be the last anybody sees or hears from me for quite some considerable time". After seven years as director of the Press Complaints Commission, few are better placed than Black to understand that subtle behind-the-scenes forces are what really shape the news agenda.
The appointment of Black, 39, as director of communications is a coup for the Conservative Party. He is on first-name terms with every national newspaper editor, goes on holiday with the present editor of The Sun, and counts television executives and celebrities among his impeccable social contacts. For good measure, his partner, Mark Bolland, is Prince Charles's former press adviser and now writes a News of the World column.
"I guess what I'll bring to the job is a special knowledge about how this industry works," Black says in the PCC offices near Fleet Street, which he finally vacates next week. "Not just national newspapers, but the regional press, which has more readers during the course of the week. I'm not sure others have acknowledged their influence - there is a huge opportunity there."
He is not, he insists, being brought in simply to turn the Murdoch papers back to the Tory cause, despite his close relationships there (he grew up in Brentwood, Essex, with Ross Kemp, who is married to Rebekah Wade, editor of The Sun). "It would be arrogant beyond belief to think that any individual other than the News International editors will have the ultimate say," he says. Instead, he will simply build "good newspaper coverage on the back of good policies". Papers will back his party, he says, when they identify a sensible, coherent policy agenda that serves their readers' interests. "And I wouldn't be doing this job if I didn't believe the Conservatives will, not just could, win the next General Election. The party has a remarkable instinct for renewal, and anybody who says the task is impossible is wrong."
A lifelong Tory who studied history at Peterhouse, Cambridge, under Maurice Cowling, a guru of the Thatcherite Right, Black previously worked for the party in the late Eighties before moving into PR. He never sought a seat but jumped at Howard's recent offer to return to politics.
Black is charming and tactful, and chooses his words precisely, as if a lawyer. He gained a reputation at the PCC as a conciliator and a stickler for detail, but he has also made some enemies.
His friendship with Wade, formerly at the News of the World, has led to particular accusations that the commission has been soft on her papers' complaints. The Guardian was furious last summer when it was censured for paying £720 to a former cellmate of Lord Archer, just as the News of the World was exonerated for paying £10,000 to a convicted criminal whose role in the so-called "Beckham kidnap plot" led a judge to report the paper to the Attorney General.
"There isn't even a shred of truth in the suggestion that the News of the World had lightertouch regulation because I'm a friend of Rebekah," Black says firmly, never quite losing his cool. "I'm a friend of a lot of the editors. I'm a friend of a lot of the complainants. You might ask how I could possibly do this job. The answer is quite straightforward: I don't make a single judgment here. That's the job of the commission, which is independent, with a clear balance of editors and lay people." The PCC's unusually proactive investigation of The Guardian's payment, he says, was entirely consistent with the code.
But what about the News of the World's supposed "exposé" of Prince Harry's drug-taking last year which arguably duped the public? Bolland recently admitted that he and the paper knowingly conspired to create a misleading story, which Black knew about in advance. "I'm not speaking for Mark," Black says, "but that was a classic PR operation. A newspaper comes to you with evidence of all sorts of things - and what Mark and Colleen [ Harris, the Prince's former press secretary] got involved in was classic damage limitation. I've never understood the fuss." Bolland's subsequent falling-out with the Palace appears to have affected Black's own attitude towards royalty. He is remarkably critical of the royal family's recent handling of the press, notably its response to allegations about Prince Charles's sexuality.
"Since the Burrell trial, they've gone into a much more combative mode, using injunctions and legal threats," he says. "Once you hand media relations over to the lawyers, you're lost. You're no longer in control of the agenda, and you have decided to take newspapers on rather than try to work with them." This, he suggests, is a fundamental-error. "I think they are entering-dangerous territory. That's not to say it's all over - but the point about the PCC and its code is that newspapers respect it and try to stay within its terms, and you can always have a mature argument. But the moment you get a writ, then it's full steam ahead to seek some way to get round it." Within two years, he believes, the law on prepublication injunctions will have broken down as the internet inevitably leaks stories out.
HAS Black himself made any mistakes? He pauses for 13 seconds before recalling the PCC's party for its 10th anniversary in 2001. "I suppose I regret that there was an aura of it being hijacked by members of the royal family," he says, referring to the appearance of Camilla alongside Charles and William at Somerset House in 2001. "That was an accident, not design, but it's rather difficult when somebody in that position says, 'Can I come along too?' It gave the impression that we were there to give a Rolls-Royce service to members of the royal family."
Black draws two particular lessons from his time at the commission. First, huge amounts of supposedly intrusive celebrity coverage is printed with the active connivance of the individuals concerned. Genuine examples of unfair treatment, he says, can be counted on one hand. Second, he hopes action will be taken to prevent "those awful scrums" on the doorsteps of those in the news.
Journalists should take pride in the surveys which show they are the least trusted people in society. "It means they're part of a vibrant, commercial industry that's working in the public interest, ruffling feathers, scrutinising people, making nuisances of themselves from time to time," he says. "Journalists who are always being nice to people are not working in the public interest." He pauses, and smiles. "And I bet I know which bit of this interview is going to be quoted against me in the future."
(Evening Standard, December 17 2004)
posted by David Rowan at Wednesday, December 17, 2003
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