It's About Ethics in Journalism

A while back, I wrote a very scathing blog post about the phenomenon most of know as GamerGate. Well, I'm a little calmer, and I consider myself to be more anti-harassment than anti-GamerGate.

And this debate...is not actually the subject of this post. Instead, I want to talk about a show I've recently come across; Drop the Dead Donkey.

I don't think many people have come across this 90s Britcom as much as others like Blackadder or Red Dwarf. Well, it's probably because it's based on the current affairs of the time so it could be considered 'dated'.

The setting is Globelink News, a news network which has recently been acquired by a business magnate named Rupert Murdoch Robert Maxwell Sir Roysten Merchant. What promptly follows is the conflict between the editor George Dent and the staff who want to maintain the station's reputation as a serious news programme, and the new Chief Executive Gus Hedges, who's after a more sensationalist style while making sure they don't report on anything that may damage Sir Roysten's business empire.

The show has some great characters. George Dent is by all accounts an ethical journalist, but he's also a nervous wreck who's afraid to stand up to Gus - a management stereotype of the worst kind. George's assistant editor Alex Pates acts as the voice of reason, but has a strong cynical streak and fierce temper. The station's news anchors are Henry Davenport and Sally Smedley. Henry is a veteran reporter contemptuous of everything in the modern news industry. He's also an alcoholic, gambler, and womaniser, along with the sub-editor Dave Charnley. Meanwhile, Sally is very snobbish and vapid, hand-picked by Gus. This makes her very unpopular with the rest of staff, especially Henry.

Last but not least, there's the 'star reporter' Damien Day. He gets some hilarious moments from his habit of making his stories as sensationalist as possible. He's not exactly ethical about it either, but George can't dismiss him because Gus likes him too much.

There is a lot of snarking between everybody, but the clashing personalities work off each other very well.

As mentioned above, the shows are based on the current events from the time of transmission, but the DVD releases always state the events on which they were based.

Now, you're probably wondering what this has to do with GamerGate. Well, I think that if you're interested in ethics in journalism, you should check the series out. Although by mentioning this, I've probably pulled off a Damien.

A Post for World Book Day

So, today's World Book Day, and I've got a report looming over me like the anvil suspended over my head. Well, I have a moment, so I want to take the time to do a book review.

When I started writing, I wanted to do something reminiscent of the old pulp magazines. With that in mind, I'd like to talk about one of my favourite pulp tales; Johnston McCulley's The Curse of Capistrano, also known as The Mark of Zorro. First written in 1919 and serialised in All Story Weekly, it was the debut of the masked swashbuckler made popular by Antonio Banderas.

Most people know who Zorro is, but if you don't, here's a brief summary: Don Diego Vega is a Spanish nobleman living in California during the early 19th Century. To most people, he's a lazy fop who detests any form of physical activity. However, this is all a façade, as he secretly assumes the persona of Señor Zorro (Mr Fox), a masked swordsman who protects the oppressed while fighting corruption and injustice.

The original story follows Diego as he tries to win the heart of Lolita Pulida, the daughter of an impoverished noble, while she is attracted to Zorro. Also present is Captain Ramon, the local military commander, and his underling Sergeant Gonzales, a friend of Diego who is determined to find Zorro. On top of that, Zorro is often appearing to punish anybody in power who abuse others.

The story has plenty of swashbuckling action and heroics, along with a surprisingly tight ending. In fact, McCulley only intended to write one story. It was Douglas Fairbanks who popularised the story by starring in the 1920 silent film, The Mark of Zorro. The success brought Zorro into the popular culture, with McCulley writing more adventures between 1922 up until his death in 1958. While that was going on, his hero was appearing in numerous serials, TV shows, and more film adaptations, including a sound remake of the Douglas Fairbanks film in 1940, and the more well-known 1998 film, The Mask of Zorro. I saw that again recently, and it holds up really well.

Like most pulp characters, the continuity is very loose. The original stories take place during the period when California was part of Mexico, but some versions take place slightly earlier, when it was still under Spanish rule. Other versions of the story establish him as a legacy character. For example, the 1937 serial Zorro Rides Again takes place in a contemporary setting, with the persona assumed by Diego's great-grandson James Vega. The Republic serials are available on YouTube, and are quite entertaining. The two I recommend are Zorro Rides Again and Zorro's Fighting Legion.

While most of the other stories are quite hard to find, the original story is public domain, and available here: https://archive.org/details/markzorro