First UK citizen journalism site to force resignation of gov official

by Heritage | June 23, 2008 at 09:58 am | 575 views | 17 comments

James McGrath, UK citizen journalism's first scalp

Update: Video interview with citizen journalist Marc Wadsworth on ITV's London Tonight: http://www.itvlocal.com/london/news/?void=204011

The-Latest.Com was created in January 2006, as Britain's first dedicated citizen journalism website. It has now become the first UK citizen journalism site to force the resignation of a public official.

The mainstream media were offered the race related story but rejected it.

Press Association told me that The-Latest.Com had made history as the first UK citizen journalism site to force the resignation of a public official. According to PA, bloggers in the US have been much more successful at this. PA said that our scoop was a fine example of an alternative website breaking news that the mainstream missed.

A senior news executive friend at the Mail on Sunday, who was annoyed that his editor declined to use the story when it was first posted on The-Latest, congratulated me on the scoop. He said I should pursue the point it seemed the race equality issue was being jettisoned by a City Hall Conservative administration that considered 'anti-racism' as 'left-wing'. Hence, Mayor Johnson's apparent decision to drop the theme from the annual Rise music festival next month.

James McGrath was a senior adviser to the new Lord Mayor of London, Boris Johnston. McGrath made the controversial remarks during an interview with Marc Wadsworth, a veteran black activist and citizen journalist.

During a wide-ranging conversation, Marc Wadsworth asked Mr McGrath if Mr Johnson's win and his earlier Spectator musings referring to blacks as "piccaninnies and Africans and their water melon smiles" - might spark an exodus of African and Caribbean immigrants from London.

Mr McGrath responded: "Well, let them go if they don't like it here."

The-lastest.com also reports that McGrath said, City Hall's Tory rulers had 'no race policy', as they are obliged by law so to have.

The-Latest 's scoop has been widely picked up by the new media and blogs. It is running on BBC News, Guardian Unlimited, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Daily Mirror, Times, Sun, Metro, Sky and many other websites. And The-Latest post bag has experienced a flood of missives, some of it nasty hate mail directed at me. As influential Guardian blogger Dave Hill said, the Tories and their allies have spent more energy attacking the journalist who broke the story rather than McGrath's slurs against Black people.

Just as alarmingly, the controversy has prompted the fascist British National Party to invite Boris Johnson into its ranks. The dramatic firing over with, Mayor Johnson must now match his declared commitment to multiculturalism with action, starting with the adoption of 'one London' race equality policy and the hiring of credible senior officials to implement it.

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generaldecay

at 10:03 on June 23rd, 2008

good stuff:

Heritage, thanks for posting this, and all the links. It goes to show what CJ can do. :)

Heritage

at 10:28 on June 23rd, 2008

Thanks for the flag generaldecay! Good to see CJ making a difference.

Rob Walker

at 10:43 on June 23rd, 2008

good stuff:

Heritage, I like this story. It's good stuff.

azzayindia

at 10:49 on June 23rd, 2008

good stuff:

Heritage, I like this story. It's good stuff.

well mainsteam media will always miss such stories because they are attached one or other ideology/lobby.

well done citizwns

Heritage

at 11:26 on June 23rd, 2008

Rob & AzzyIndia thanks for the flags....

the Tories and their allies have spent more energy attacking the journalist who broke the story rather than McGrath's slurs against Black people.

Being a Citizen journalist certainly can be rough....

Barbara McPherson

at 12:51 on June 23rd, 2008

good stuff:

Heritage, I like this story. It's good stuff. This underlines the important and powerful role the citizen journalist has to play in preserving democracy and fair play. Not without risks tho.

Caoimhin1

at 13:49 on June 23rd, 2008

good stuff:

Heritage, I like this story. It's good stuff.

politisite

at 13:54 on June 23rd, 2008

good stuff:

Heritage, I like this story. It's good stuff. The government is totally aware of network journalists, but since there are so many CJ and growing, the Government types can't keep up with them. So it looks like some avg joe asking questions, no harm done, right? Guess this CJ and those involved showed them. Very cool story from where I sit.

JeffHuang

at 16:19 on June 23rd, 2008

good stuff:

Heritage, I like this story. It's good stuff.

liamssoft

at 16:33 on June 23rd, 2008

good stuff:

Heritage, I like this story. It's good stuff.

René

at 17:55 on June 23rd, 2008

Uh, who was forced to resign? it is not in this story.

Heritage

at 19:47 on June 23rd, 2008

Hi Rene,

James McGrath was a senior adviser to the new Lord Mayor of London, Boris Johnston. McGrath made the controversial remarks during an interview with Mar Wadsworth, a veteran black activist and citizen journalist.

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/james-mcgrath-uk-citizen-journalisms-first-scalp

Best,

Heritage

Beaulieu

at 20:02 on June 23rd, 2008

good stuff:

Heritage, I like this story. It's good stuff.

However, it also brings to light the 'backlash' to the CJ.. and how some of us just aren't prepared for that. I mean, normal staff reporters probably have Big Newspapers to support them. On that website they are encouraged to put in their full name and for safety reasons, particularly, if you write on contraversial things, it can be a bit of a risk to the CJ. Remember what happened to Salman Rushie?

Good for him though. Power to the people.

Beaulieu

at 05:46 on June 24th, 2008

I like this story. It's good stuff.

I read The Times yesterday about the story and it didn't mention that the-latest.com was a CJ site - it just said it was a 'news site' and there was no mention that press history had been made in that story, let alone that the mainstream press ignored the story at first.

Heritage

at 07:04 on June 24th, 2008

Perhaps the established players were too busy wiping egg off their faces after being scooped by a two year old rookie...... (The-Latest.com was established in 2006).

The importance of established media entities is being diminished, I guess they prefer not to mention it.

Beaulieu

at 05:57 on June 24th, 2008

From www.timesonline.co.uk today:-

Boris Johnson began the hunt yesterday for a new political strategist, saying that he was "keen to move on and focus on the task ahead" in light of the race furore that has enveloped City Hall.

Mr Johnson denied accusations by the Labour group in the London Assembly that he had dithered when taking action against James McGrath, his senior adviser who said that Caribbean blacks could go home if they did not like it in London.