Media and Police Investistigated On Raoul Moat Hunt

I was going to blog about this earlier, but it seemed better to wait till it was over. Doc Richard has written very well on it here.

For over a week the media has been obsessed with this event; firstly a manhunt, then the human interest of the families involved and the effect on the community in Rothbury.

I think we need an inquiry looking into the police but also the media. Why did it take the police so long to find the man who had killed one person and tried to kill two others? Did they use heat imaging cameras to search?

But also what of the media, their reporting could have made the situation much worse. At the very least they got in the way of the police and behaved irresponsibly. As they admit:

Sky News @SkyScot on Twitter “Was listening to negotiations till armed cop found us. Crept up silently,first i knew was when i felt his breath on my cheek.”

Or this gem from Alex Thomson at Channel 4, via @MindInFlux “sorry lots of Bberry tweets in dark running thru peoples, gardens evading cops – some spelling may have gone astray”

Even Gazza got involved, here he is on the radion, sounding drunk. He claimed to know Raoul for years. Half a million people have listened to this.

“The media aren’t helping. You’ve got this constant round the clock rolling news. It’s like, you know, they’re working up to what could be a public execution in modern Britain of my little brother” said Moats brother.

It may be no coincidence that Raoul Moat’s rampage occurred so shortly after that of Derrek Bird. Charlie Brooker reports a forensic psychiatrist on Newswipe who argues that reporting on an event like this makes it more likely to be repeated. Hence my reluctance to blog about the subject.