NEW YORKERED
The Magazine & The Murderer: Spotlight On Rough Justice Journalism
Start spreading the news, The New Yorker is king of the hill, top of the list for rough justice journalism.
The magazine, an institution of American liberalism, has been over here doing investigative articles on notorious British criminal cases where convictions might be unsafe or the guilty actually innocent.
It recently uncovered fresh evidence from a serving police officer that casts doubt on the guilt of Jeremy Bamber, who is 40 years into a whole life sentence for killing his family in Essex.
But The New Yorker has refused to disclose the tape recorded interview with the cop to Bamber’s legal team or the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which is about to decide whether to refer his case to the appeal court.
The New Yorker says it has a “cast iron policy” of not disclosing “in any circumstances” the evidence that underpins its journalism.
Bamber accuses the magazine of “an obstruction of justice” and his campaign insist there was no mention of this policy when The New Yorker sought its co-operation and access to case files.
Last night, the Essex cop who spoke out told The Upsetter the CCRC had not approached him in the almost eight months since his name appeared in the magazine article.
The CCRC is already facing an existential crisis following recent government criticism of its failure to investigate exculpatory evidence handed to it by defence lawyers.
The New Yorker is part of Conde Nast, itself owned by the privately-held Advance media empire of the American billionaire Newhouse family, which includes Vanity Fair and Vogue among its prestige publications.
Since its first edition in 1925, The New Yorker has become a multi-platform operation using journalism to drive podcast, film and tv expansion.
The magazine says it intends to broadcast extracts of the tape-recorded interview with the Essex cop in a pay-to-listen podcast about the Bamber case.
The podcast will be released after the CCRC has made its decision, which Bamber has been told will be next month.
The New Yorker refused this newsletter’s request for a copy of the policy it is relying on in the face of criticism of putting profit before principle in pursuit of case studies for podcast and television.
The Upsetter wakes up the city that doesn’t sleep and asks is The New Yorker top of the (shit) heap and is this the new face of rough justice journalism?
