On Wed.19.01.05 Lord Putnam the film producer who is now known as a ‘hustler’ in the House of Lords, spoke in Oxford on ‘Parliament, Press and the People - The Case for a Fresh Start.’ He was appearing at the first of a series arranged by Article 19 a pressure group working for press freedom world wide.

Freedom of expression is the corner stone of democracy. A representative from Article 19 asked why journalists do not have to be accountable and show social responsibility in the way we now expect corporations ? Is it possible that, with a government with no effective checking system, journalists could be encouraged to be the real opposition ? While most journalists and Parliament are unwilling to change our democracy is at real risk. We need to move on from an adversarial media and a parliament which does not want to renew itself.

David Putnam feels that parliamentary democracy it is "probably not quite in crisis" but that it needs urgent consideration. Particularly serious is the lack of trust for this government felt by 84% of the people. There is a need to relaunch democracy. He sited many examples of Tony Blair being unwilling to use the information of well informed experts like former ambassador Lord Patrick Wright on situations in the Middle East.

He sees a tendency for both journalists and parliament to exclude themselves from needing to change while seeing change as good for others. He calls this exceptionalism. He is particularly critical that there is no media criticism of Select Committees and their more or less effective chairs. "We need a revolution in the reporting of parliament. It needs to be in between the dull and the trivial." He finds that commercial news casters are not nearly as engaged as public service journalists. "Great reporting can help to change the world and promote social cohesion in civil society. We need to create a situation in which trust can flourish." His best quote was "don’t give the people what they want; they deserve far, far better".

He sees the Internet as "a gift from heaven which the engaged citizens use in an entirely new way". While he is optimistic he did not mince his words ending by asking "how can we change this horrible and undemocratic situation ?"

Sarah L