C4 SnowMail - January/2001
Certainty level: 50%
In January 2001 I signed up for Channel 4 TV News's email service SnowMail,
under an anonymous email address.
Quite soon Jon Snow and others started getting at me in the SnowMail bulletins,
so I promptly unsubscribed.
Here are three distributed messages which may be intended to be against me; I
have given these items a joint
probability of 50% only, since it is quite difficult to be sure these are
against me, although I think they
may well be.
First item is from 5 January 2001. "Back passage contacts" might genuinely be
about Labour were communicating
in a shielded way with ITN; but it may be about Snow's covert communications
with me on his programme and in
this bulletin; and it's a slightly strange thing for him to say, it suggests
the human body's back passage.
"I wish they'd come and talk on our website".... Snow knows I'm subscribed to
his mailing list, and he may be
encouraging me to talk to him by email; again, if that comment were genuinely
about Labour, then it would be
a strange thing to say, since the politicians talk to Snow by phone and on his
programme, so they wouldn't talk
to him by email; my suspicion at the time is that he was trying to persuade me
to talk to him by email,
so he could decently lie that my thoughts of reference were incorrect.
From: "Snow C4N, Jon"
Subject: Channel 4 News briefing
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2001 17:15:06 -0000
MIME-Version: 1.0
January 5, 2000
Good afternoon dear viewer,
Well the 'snowmail' drew a little ire from Labour HQ yesterday. A sensitive
call at 6.35pm from my friendly
mentor there sought to correct the impression I gave in yesterday's missive
that in some way Labour was bounced
into naming these latest millionaire donors. Well I'm afraid they were...rest
assured Paul Hamlyn would not have
been named without the diligent sleuthing of my colleagues, and had HE not been
named neither would these latest two.
The only serious inaccuracy I must plead to was the promise that we would put
these matters to a 'senior Labour
person'...alas none was forthcoming...I shall make no such rash promise again.
My same mentor was on the phone again
during last night's Channel 4 News urging us to 'get some reality into the
programme'. I fear we may have touched a
sensitive nerve...and the election campaign has not even started, or has it? I
shall try to keep you posted with these
'back passage contacts' as the campaign unfolds..from all sides. I do wish
they'd come and talk things over with all
of us on the web site...here's an open invitation...
So to today:
Harold Shipman murdered as many as 250 people it now turns out. But he is never
to be tried and relatives who seek
closure to their uncertainties will never reap satisfaction..we have the DPP,
the Chief Medical Officer and a solicitor
for aggrieved and bereaved families on the programme..the world's second-worst
mass murderer..can he be allowed to
escape further action?
Sending private/sexy emails in company time gets workers the sack..Big Brother
spies on office premises..is electronic
life in the work place getting out of hand? We explore what we can...and if you
are not sure what you can and can't
send, our site spells out the legal dos and don'ts and gives you the chance to
put your views to us.
The CIA publishes its risk assessment for the world in the coming years..beyond
the CIA itself, what's the biggest
threat to life and liberty? Find out on Channel 4 News..and a major encounter
with a man expected to take a top job
in the Bush administration...
And a sumptuous piece from Nicholas Glass in Valencia..a city transformed by a
brilliant young architect for half
the price of what the Dome cost us.
Lots moving, see you at 7.00,best as ever,
Jon Snow
The next contact was on 11 January, with the unsubtle words "the lunatics have
taken over the newsroom"
from Krishnan GM. The phrase needs no explanation as to why it might be a dig
at me.
From: "Guru-Murthy C4N, Krishnan"
Subject: Channel 4 News briefing
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 16:56:25 -0000
MIME-Version: 1.0
January 11, 2001
Good Afternoon. Jon's away so the lunatics have taken over the newsroom. I am
joined by Samira for tonight's show.
The Depleted Uranium confusion deepens. What did Ministers and senior officers
know about the risks to soldiers?
What did they tell others? And why the lack of candour over the recent
documents that have surfaced? Having
dismissed the army report leaked yesterday warning of the dangers of exposure
to DU as written by a trainee and
littered with mistakes, the Ministry of Defence now accepts it was written by
an experienced officer.
But they won't say who. More awkwardly it emerges that senior officers decided
a month after it was written that
the report should be circulated to all personnel likely to come into contact
with DU. But was it? Nobody seems to
know. Our Science Correspondent Andrew Veitch has also visited the lab in
Oxford that could begin testing
veterans for Depleted Uranium within six months, but they have had no contact
from the government as yet. From
the Tories, Mr Duncan Smith is likely to join us. And we have Defence Secretary
Hoon coming into the studio to
answer the obvious (and not so obvious) questions.
No interest rate cut today from the Bank of England, but could it be next
month? As real fears are raised about
the likelihood of recession in the US how could it affect us over here? There's
been a recent consensus that
Britain could weather the storm instead of falling into the usual pattern of
shadowing American trends. But how
realistic is that? And what about all that inward investment we rely on from
the States? Liam Halligan has been
looking at just what impact economic downturn across the water would have on us.
The former Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic pleaded not guilty to charges
of warcrimes including genocide
today. She was number two to Karazdic and a reputed hardliner during the
"ethnic cleansing" of Bosnia.
But has a deal been done on her sentence if found guilty? Just why did she get
on a plane and give herself up
to the Hague War Crimes Tribunal? Nobody seems to have any explanation. Her
lawyers are asking for special
accommodation and even the possibility of bail. Gaby Rado is there and joining
us live is the first Prosecutor
in the Hague Judge Goldstone to discuss whether plea bargains and deals are the
only way to get the real villains.
Also the astonishing news that scientists in America have bred the first
genetically engineered monkey. What will
they be used for and what's the next step? Does anybody really believe they
won't do it to humans before too
long? Julian Rush will have details.
All that and loads more at seven. See you then, I hope. Krishnan.
The third and final item is from 24 January, shortly after which I unsubscribed
from SnowMail. Again, it is difficult
to be sure if this item refers to me; it may do, it may not do, 50% captures
the possibility. Snow refers to
"third leg of [Blair's] political footstool". In English culture "third leg"
indicates one's male member;
Snow's phrase may be a sexual reference, of which there were others around that
time.
From: "Snow C4N, Jon"
Subject: Channel 4 News briefing
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 16:37:36 -0000
MIME-Version: 1.0
January 24, 2001
Good evening dear Channel 4 News viewer,
There are times in this business when you suffer severe attacks of deja
vu...haven't I already said "Mandelson
Resigns!"...I'm afraid I have, and tonight I shall say it again. He's gone, the
fat lady has not only sung but
died completely and utterly on his career...that is the end of the former
Northern Ireland Secretary's political career.
It's a body blow against Blair for whom Mandelson was a mentor, manipulator,
calculator, friend, brother and the
third leg of his political footstool.
It's a body blow for a Prime Minister who has had to have him resign not once
but twice. It calls into question
Tony Blair's judgement. Mandy, probably one of the most brilliant spirits in
politics, flew too close to the
sun...suffering finally at the hand of his own diabolical flaw.
Amazingly it's a flaw Blair understood more keenly than anyone...
And then there are the Hindujas who have compromised every political party with
ridiculous photographed party
poses..who are they and how do they work?
Masses moving on all fronts on this story tonight. We have the resignation
speech in full on our site www.channel4.com/news;
if you want to see how Mandelson bowed out.
There are other developments:
The cancer tragedy at Nottingham Queens medical centre..the wrong drug going
into the spinal column of an eighteen-year-old
Leukemia victim who's now in intensive care, dangerously ill...it's happened
before..why has it happened again?
And a moving interview with Sharon Sage who's mother Lorna Sage wrote a spell
binding memoir highly rated in last night's
Whitbread Prize. An exceptional piece....
A highly political night....see you at seven on four...best, as ever, Jon
After this email I unsubscribed from SnowMail. I could not be sure that these
items were or were not about me,
but it's an unpleasant feeling that Mr Snow might be getting at me in writing,
as he certainly was when he watched
me while presenting the news; so I cut my losses, so to speak, and bailed out.
4024
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