“Fewer and fewer people buy or even read a newspaper nowadays. That’s not just a problem for newspapers, it’s a problem for us – we are slowly becoming more and more unused to waiting for our news. I spent more years than I care to remember in a newsroom, and many listless hours sat on uncomfortable court benches watching the wheels of justice grind slowly, slowly, then maddeningly quickly. Yet the reactions to court reports have led me to believe that while we have more news than we know what to do with, we are losing the ability to understand it properly. Conventions that have lasted for decades are fading from our consciousness as we are exposed to outlets that either ignore them or never knew they existed.”

(one of the daily Dredd strips Ron drew for the Daily Star in the 80s – ironically the same sort of red top tabloid which covered his trial allegations recently; click for the larger image)

Its not directly comics-related, excepting that he mentions Ron’s case as an example (and he also mentions an interview to come in the Megazine soon with Ron, something to look forward to, he’s an important part of 2000 AD’s story), but I’d still recommend reading it. I don’t completely agree with his conclusions (for me the Sun’s reporting of the allegations was sleazy and biased, perhaps not biased in the legal sense, but certainly in terms of the preferred reading of the text, a favoured yet legitimate trick of many tabloids) but he makes some good points and its interesting reading. (via Matt ‘Daddy Cool’ Badham)