Watching the clear-up of the debris and the verbal exchanges at press conferences this morning (Sunday 7th August) following Saturday's disturbances in the NorthEast London suburb of Tottenham, one is reminded of how mob rules and news agendas falter once again.
It was only when crowds took to the streets, a bus was torched and a shop was reduced to a crumbling wreck were the news cameras there to witness. There was no story in the alleged police shooting of an individual in the area two days previous; no comments were passed or column inches sullied with the accusations or reasons behind the death of the 29 year old Mark Duggan. This was hushed over until the visual, vocal and violent protests of a discontented crowd were displayed on plasmas and echoed for many miles around.
This is not to insinuate or to question the actions surrounding the events, but the sudden attention given to Tottenham demonstrates that the mob mentality rules if views are to air. There is yet to be any analysis behind the motivations for Saturday's actions in Tottenham. Light must be shed and this can and never will come from the work of an arsonist. All reason has failed when eyes turn to such actions.
However, what on the outside appears as a legitimate news line, the alleged shooting of an individual in Tottenham by the Metropolitan Police, was not followed until the retaliation was so large that one could not ignore it. Seeking justice cannot condone the actions of those involved but neither can the refusal so far to understand what brought them to these actions.
If the Nick Davies' 'Flat Earth News theory is to be pursued further, Why was the shooting not reported when it occurred? Was it lower on the news agenda that day? Was there a press release that was missed? Or was the filing of a press release missed? Where were the balanced reporters objectively following events without the requirement of a statement?
Perhaps there is no conspiracy here? Arguably there was motivation and justification for the initial trigger, particularly when borne in mind the contention that the officer was shooting in retaliation to a bullet fired from Duggan's handgun. Perhaps the accusations are initially inaccurate and without clarification, an unknown story is a non-story (a motto that should be followed in more minor stories of tabloid tittle-tattle) But either way questions should not just be asked but answered if we are to see an end to the shortcut route to headline grabbing, the unproductive and unsocial mob mentality dragging disorder and society to its most crude and Neanderthal depths.
