UK's crime-fighting agency will take its agenda from the press

[muriel_volestrangler]

Britain's new "FBI" agency will be set priorities by the Home Office that are partly based on how much newspapers write about different types of organised crime.

Illegal immigration has been identified as one of the top priorities, partly because more column inches are devoted to the subject than any other crime issue, the chairman of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) has confirmed.

Sir Stephen Lander, told The Independent that Home Office researchers had created a "harm model" that was designed to highlight the most pressing crime issues.

As part of the formula, 33 national and regional newspapers have been monitored for the past five years and measured for how many words are written on each type of organised crime. Illegal immigration came top of the list, with drugs in second place.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=599312

What an incredibly stupid idea. Have we got a phrase for "rule by journalists" yet? (Apart from pornocracy, following the Stanley Baldwin quotation “What the proprietorship of these newspapers is aiming at is power, and power without responsibility — the prerogative of the harlot through the ages.”)

'Graphocracy'? Anyone know the (ancient) Greek for 'author', or 'diarist'?

[sweetheart]

1. If murdoch was elected, he'd never have such power

This is all a bit silly. As an immigrant, what i need from the UK
government is my phone tapped and my emails monitored, of course, as
geez, i get my spelling wrong wregularly.. ;-)

Sounds like a silly police force. I hope they train them in the silly
walks so at least the taxpayer can have a laugh.

[Taxloss]

2. That's a remarkably foolish idea.

But what a splendid way of guaranteeing favourable coverage!