David Norris (Independent)

I am asking for a general examination of the media. An editorial from last weekend argues that it is improbable that the public's hunger for intrusive personal knowledge will diminish. That is exactly right and I am well aware of it. A couple of Sundays ago I was in my local newsagents and saw a woman coming hot from the church who bought a newspaper, the front page of which reported on a woman having sex with a dog. There is an interest. Public interest is not just what the public is interested in. The public may well be interested in filth and seedy details of people's private lives but it is not always in the public interest to publish these, and a good editor should know the difference.