Brooks Newmark and Media Hypocrisy

The resignation of the Tory Minister for Civil Society, Brooks Newmark, after he sent a sexually explicit photo of himself to an undercover reporter from the Sunday Mirror has produced a salacious backdrop to today’s opening of the Conservative Party conference, but I feel Mr Newmark deserves more sympathy than condemnation. He says himself that he has been very foolish, but the Mirror journalist — who posed as a flirtatious Tory PR woman — effectively stitched him up in a deliberate sting operation. Had he been a blackmailer, he would have committed a criminal act. Had he been a policeman, it would have amounted to entrapment. But because he is a journalist and Mr Newmark is a politician the accepted view is that it is OK. Well, I do not accept that interpretation — and I am a journalist. One had hoped that with the demise of the disgusting News of the World, Sunday newspapers would drop some of their more dubious practices in their search for sensational stories. But the antics of the fake Sheikh — whose mtehods have recently been somewhat discredited –have shown that other newspapers are prepared to fill the gap. In the Sunday Mirror’s case, there is also a political motive, as it is Labour-supporting, and Mr Newmark’s indiscretion leaves egg on the face of the Conservatives. The journalist concerned will probably get a pay rise because of his scoop, but I believe he should be criticised, not praised. Not only has he ruined Mr Newmark’s career for the time being. he will have caused immense distress to the MP’s family. Brooks Newmark has certainly been a very silly boy, but then so are millions of men when it comes to sexual desire. He is now in disgrace, but to my mind, it is the journalist and the sort of gutter journalism that he represents that should be.