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email this page to a friendIN THE ten years or so I have written news and features for Daelnet, I have never before replied to a criticism of my work, writes John Sheard. The Internet, I believe, is the perfect media for the presentation of conflicting opinions and I firmly believe that everyone has a right to reply.
However, the emotional attack on reports of increased robberies in North Yorkshire by police press officer Tony Lidgate, who described our report as "wild fantasy," is far beyond the bounds of fair free speech.
In 50 years as a working journalist, 20 of them on and off in Fleet Street and four in Northern Ireland covering The Troubles, I have never before faced such an accusation. The figures involved were widely reported and discussed at some length by newspapers including the Daily Telegraph, which is rarely accused of "wild fantasy."
I wonder, therefore, if Mr Lidgate's intemperate response has some connection with the fact that, in recent years, and in particular since the introduction of crime reduction targets by the Home Office, police crime figures have in general come under considerable suspicion.
I am not saying that North Yorkshire "bends" the figures - for such a small force covering such a wide area it does a splendid job. But the fact of the matter is that there are now several different methods of compiling crime statistics and the Home Office versions have come under attack from many quarters for "spin."
When there are favourable and unfavourable interpretations of the same figures it is only human for those in official positions choose to broadcast the favourable.
I should also add that I have probably covered many more crimes than Mr Lidgate. I "broke" the A6 murder in 1960 when I was a cub reporter in the Home Counties, a controversial case which led to the hanging of James Hanratty, and won a major national award many years later for my investigation of the Yorkshire Ripper policing debacle.
In the longest series ever run by a national Sunday newspaper, I exposed 23 occasions on which Peter Sutcliffe should have been arrested, saving the lives of at least ten of the 13 women he murdered. The police raised no complaint about the statistics on that occasion. Could that have been because my reporting was spot on?
Click here to read Daelnet's original report
Below is North Yorkshire Police's criticisms of our report:
Today's Daelnet news item tells me "Crime booming in North Yorkshire" - apparently robbery and violent crime are "surging".
Time for a reality check - crime in North Yorkshire has FALLEN for the third year running. It fell by 7.2% last year. Burglary is DOWN, autocrime is DOWN, sex offences are DOWN. And, since you mention it, violent crime is DOWN by 11%!
Robbery has gone up, it's true - by 40 incidents across the county's two million acres, the kind of statistical blip you get with very small numbers. Is that a "surge"?
It seems odd that if crime in North Yorkshire is "booming" the Home Office have recently confirmed that we have the lowest crime rate of any county in England...
And I see that once again you have erroneously claimed that police stations have closed in North Yorkshire. Yes, some have closed - but only to be replaced by better ones.
In running stories like this without checking does two things: It makes your readers doubt the accuracy of all your news items, and wild fantasies about surging crime just make people afraid unneccesarily.
Tony Lidgate - North Yorkshire Police Press Officer
Your views:
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Just one question your readers might like to ponder - why would such an experienced journalist not check the accuracy of a story before publishing it? Just one phone call would have saved the usually excellent Daelnet from getting egg on its face.
Tony Lidgate - North Yorkshire Police Press Officer
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I love reading Daelnet because it's good to hear news for and from the countryside. But John Sheard often oversteps the mark and his clear bias in reporting often makes me cringe, and sometimes makes me stop reading. Maybe his initial report wasn't an outright lie, but it clearly wasn't the whole story. I have to agree wholeheartedly with Tony Lidgate when he says "In running stories like this without checking does two things: It makes your readers doubt the accuracy of all your news items, and wild fantasies about surging crime just make people afraid unneccesarily."
When faced with a detailed, specific criticism as presented by Tony Lidgate, I expect John Sheard to reply with something more specific than petty schoolyard taunts such as "I have probably covered many more crimes than Mr Lidgate". And in response to John Sheard's accusation that "When there are favourable and unfavourable interpretations of the same figures it is only human for those in official positions choose to broadcast the favourable" - I would say that it is only human for journalists to choose to broadcast the unfavourable! John Sheard says "police crime figures have in general come under considerable suspicion" - I wonder if he is aware of how much criticism journalists and the press have come under for biased and sensationalist reporting?
John - please try harder to give us the full story next time, the good as well as the bad.
Josephine A - London/Settle
