Reading Nick Davies book..superb.

love the way he describes tabloid newsrooms & editors and many journalists as spiteful,nasty & vindictive and how many (including himself) are driven by incidents in their youth. Many have agendas far outside "reporting"

Gives The Guardian a bit of free run (he worked on provincial tabloids- the same as the majors) but mainly because it's not driven by profit so does not have the pressures.

His describes correctly the majority of hacks as..people who someone tells something to who then do some basic checking and write a story as though it's some great revelation they discovered.

the Distinguished London Publisher John Blake said similar to me years ago when he jumped Maxwell's Mirror group.

## Blake once told me he sells his tabloids to supermarket chains by the weight not title.

Yes I'm currently reading it too Hedda - Distinguished London Publisher? That gave me a huge laugh - spat out my morning coffee!

JK2006 wrote:
Yes I'm currently reading it too Hedda - Distinguished London Publisher? That gave me a huge laugh - spat out my morning coffee!

I should lay claim to it..but it's how private Eye describes him.

Last time I visited Blakey his office was like Fort Knox. I said "is this to stop your authors coming in for their royalties". It's the only time he's given me a dark look.