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.