“Senior media figures on the mainstream ”˜left’ are where they are because they know how to play this game. The idea is to talk a good fight, to elicit applause from the ”˜left’, but also quiet nods of acceptance from the media gatekeepers, the people they are supposed to be challenging. A key talent is to appear passionately radical while subtly indicating that one is not ’extreme’, that the rules of the media club are accepted. The first rule of media club is: Don’t talk about the inherent contradiction of a corporate ”˜free press’. The second rule: Rule one does not exist. The third rule: Do not discuss the existence or non-existence of rules one and two.”
Medialens, July 27, The New Statesman Editor And Blair’s ‘Mistake’