Met Police RIPA FoI 6: ‘Vexatious’ rejection
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Below are the redacted emails provided by the Met:
ByNewsdesk demands for ever more stories about Kate Middleton and the Royal Wedding may be pushing hacks to breaking point.…
ByComments from former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie dismissing journalism academia as “make-work projects for retired journalists” stirred up the world…
ByIt was only a matter of time before someone did this. Axegrinder’s sympathies go out to Today programme presenter James…
ByAnother exhibit for Axegrinder’s dark museum of production howlers – this time from Northcliffe’s ThisisGloucestershire website. It’s got the lot:…
ByA clear frontrunner has emerged in Axegrinder’s headline of the year competition. It’s The Sun’s awesome headline from February this…
ByHere are the latest headline of the month finalists: Story: Choristers from Magdalen College School gather at the top of…
ByFirst a stretched Johnston Press weekly publishes dummy copy on its front page, then dummy copy appears in a Financial…
ByWhich esteemed national newspaper political journalist’s bottom is this? Axegrinder will be answering this, and other pressing questions from “Election…
ByNot every journalist at the Birmingham Post and Mail, it seems, was left reeling by news that 85 jobs could…
ByLast week, the Daily Mail advertised for news subs to “join the best subbing operation in the business”. Judging by…
ByThe reappearance of Simon Kelner in today’s Media Guardian 100, the ‘definitive guide to the people who really matter in…
ByThe change from spring into summer can do strange things to the emotions, but Axegrinder is increasingly worried about Paul…
ByThe following story appeared in the April edition of Press Gazette Racing Post editor Bruce Millington recently listed his…
BySubscribers who have read the Axegrinder column in the April edition of Press Gazette will know that not one…
ByIt seems not all readers are enjoying editor Steve Dyson’s blog at the Birmingham Mail website. Someone calling herself NannyGram…
ByGuardian and Observer staff may have shiny new offices to work in but management had better note: hungry journalists are…
ByWith so many people foolishly questioning the need for newspaper sub-editors, a regional press sub writes to Axegrinder with a…
ByNews that Yates’s Wine Lodge in Blackpool has gone up in flames may well get many journalists of a certain…
ByAs insensitive intros go, it’s hard to beat this one from a story about the death of an…
ByWhen singer John Martyn revealed in 2003 that his right leg had been amputated below the knee, he mischievously told…
ByChannel 4 broadcast a Dispatches documentary on Thursday night called Unseen Gaza, in which Jon Snow looked at how journalists…
ByAxegrinder suspects that Independent on Sunday diarist Matthew Bell is not a big fan of the beautiful game. At the…
ByCongratulations to BBC2’s Newsnight, which has picked up a Plain English Award for best national TV programme. The judges consider…
ByTheatregoers who read London’s Evening Standard must be feeling pretty confused: A couple of years ago, the Standard’s Nicholas de…
ByHacks from The Guardian and The Observer can briefly let their hair down tonight and forget the ordeal of moving to their…
ByKeen Simon Heffer watchers will have greatly enjoyed reading the Daily Telegraph associate editor's angry email to staff castigating them…
ByThe Daily Mail’s Ephraim Hardcastle is puzzled by TV critic AA Gill’s attack on the new Channel 4 series, The…
ByAs expected, Fleet Street’s women columnists have leapt on the Gordon Ramsay ‘scandal’ like a pack of vicious, sharp-tongued hyenas. …
ByToday’s Daily Mail is typically outraged to learn that 15 council staff – including social workers – have been punished…
ByTabloid allegations that Gordon Ramsay conducted a seven-year secret affair with a so-called ‘professional mistress’should provide tasty material for Fleet…
ByThis is an abbreviated version of a story from the Axegrinder column that appeared in the October issue of Press…
ByThursday night’s edition of Newsnight is sure to go down as an all-time classic, thanks to the wonderful presenter Emily…
ByThere was much amusement at IPC this week when Ignite – IPC Media’s men’s lifestyle brand, which includes NME, Loaded,…
ByObviously, the last thing Axegrinder wants to do is hit sales of £225 tickets for dinner with Piers Morgan on…
ByWhat with his enormous earnings from being a judge on crappy TV talent shows, his M&S steak advert, his BBC…
ByBrowsing through ‘collectables/weird stuff’section of ebay, Axegrinder today came across something very curious – nine IT journalists are being ‘auctioned…
ByIs this a grim first? Axegrinder today visited the websites of three of the UK’s biggest magazine publishers – Bauer,…
ByGood news for Sir Paul McCartney – his former PR man, Geoff Baker, claims he has turned down an offer…
ByIn his Daily Mirror column on Thursday, Brian Reade rightly laments that the media gave plenty of coverage to Sir…
ByFor a brief moment on Thursday it appeared that Sir Paul McCartney had kissed and made up with his former…
ByIn all the fuss over the return of Peter Mandelson to the Cabinet, many people may have overlooked another interesting…
ByMax Hastings was in fine form last night when giving the James Cameron memorial lecture at City University. He talked…
ByWith the headline, “Tattoo gays with health warnings, demands clergyman”, Tuesday’s Daily Mail carries the story that the Reverend Peter…
ByWhen The Sun succeeded in bringing back to the UK great train robber Ronnie Biggs in 2001 it was hailed…
ByThe drinking reputation of journalists has been proudly upheld in a boozing experiment conducted for BBC Radio Devon. Six people…
ByAs a fluent Chinese speaker, BBC News Channel presenter Carrie Gracey is sure to prove a major asset during the…
ByThe perils of celebrity-led advertising were never more in evidence than on page seven of The Mail on Sunday’s Live…
ByI hear there were red faces (with anger) at the weekend over at the News of the World and smug…
ByThe Facebook groups inspired by Giles ‘porn’Coren come thick and fast, if you’ll pardon the expression. In the wake of…
ByAnother tale of thirsty News at Ten anchor Reginald Bosanquet reaches Axegrinder. Ski journalist Arnie Wilson recalls the night Reggie…
ByWith Paul Dacre’s 60th birthday on the horizon, media commentators are speculating who will inherit the crown from the great…
ByAxegrinder raises his glass (filled with non-alcoholic German wine, obviously) to Marc Astley, editor of the Express & Echo in…
ByJust to add to his woes, we understand News of the World editor Colin Myler is feeling distinctly miffed at…
ByJust when this column thought it might go two weeks without mentioning Giles ‘porn’Coren, the Times hack and would-be TV…
ByYoung Henry Deedes tells readers of The Independent’s media diary that Press Gazette is not commissioning work beyond the 15…
ByJust four days after announcing that eight people from editorial were being made redundant, management at The Press in York…
ByOn the NCTJ’s website is a page of “career advice” that poses the question: What do newspaper editors look for?…
ByIt’s not often that a musician making his debut in the album chart can be described as “media-savvy”, but then…
ByCaitlin Moran of The Times thought she was being frightfully witty when commenting, in her Celebrity Watch column, on reports…
ByMore red faces at the Daily Mail, which earlier this week admitted losing a laptop containing the bank details of…
ByJulie Burchill is one of the highest-paid writers in Fleet Street – indeed, in terms of pounds per word there…
ByThe Observer has often been accused of cosying up to New Labour, but surely addressing Gordon Brown in the manner…
ByIt’s that time of year – Royal Ascot, Wimbledon fortnight… and publication of The Independent on Sunday’s “Pink List” of…
ByThe ill-advised decision of newspaper publisher Archant to allow the BNP to place adverts in the Ham & High before…
ByGood news for food writer and former Times diary editor Giles “porn” Coren: His recent appearance in the BBC2 series…
ByUnderstandably there is much gloom at London free newspaper City AM where it has been announced that its entire team…
ByActivists from the NUJ used the Regional Press Awards at London’s posh Lancaster Hotel as a chance for a bit…
ByAlec Russell, the affable and charming Johannesburg correspondent for the pink ‘un, the Financial Times, is to write a book.…
BySo The Telegraph is forking out £4,000 for a farewell party for Alice Thomson, who is soon going to work…
ByI bumped into Tracey Emin at a party at the Wilton Music Hall just last week, and she was banging…
ByThe Telegraph types are getting ready for their annual summer party. Axegrinder has had a glimpse at an invitation and…
ByWhat has come over Amanda Platell since she joined the Daily Mail almost four years ago? She used to be…
ByWhen Channel 4 News was seeking someone to discuss the recent spate of books from New Labour’s ranks (John Prescott,…
ByGarden News columnist and TV presenter Joe Swift has clearly some way to go before he becomes a household name.…
ByWe were left smiling, nay, tittering, after reading the lead story in Ephraim Hardcastle’s Daily Mail column last Thursday (May…
ByThe decision of Ham and High publisher Archant to give all revenues earned from accepting adverts from the BNP to…
ByShe may appear to be frighteningly serious, but BBC economics editor Stephanie Flanders was a fun-loving girl in her younger…
ByChatting to a senior US journalist, he sounded envious when I told him about The Daily Telegraph’s strategy for dealing…
ByLawyers are finding it even harder defending the press in our overly litigious online age. Which is why it is…
ByVal McDermid is undoubtedly one of the best crime writers in this country. Here’s the award-winning writer talking about her…
ByNews that Sir Anthony O’Reilly was named media person of the year at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival was…
ByYou can take away our final salary pensions, you can take away our inflated expenses claims – but you’ll never…
ByZoo scored an on-pitch triumph against their bitter men’s mag rivals with a crushing 5-0 win over Nuts magazine. The…
ByStart of the season predictions are one of the most exciting parts of a sports pundit’s job. Seldom does anyone…
ByAfter running the 26 and a bit miles of the London Marathon, most people collapse into a chaffed sweaty heap…
ByAxegrinder may have inadvertently given a letters-page terrorist the idea for another cowardly attack on a regional press editor. Regular…
BySo farewell then to Chris Mullin, 60, former editor of The Tribune newspaper, who has decided to quit politics at…
BySince Will Lewis, the Telegraph’s editor-in-chief, lured one of his friends, Adrian Michaels, away from the FT to become head…
ByFormer Mirror editor Piers Morgan is to return to the paper’s Canary Wharf HQ as editor for the first time…
ByGood to see the Daily Express is doing its bit for hard-up and hard-working readers by keeping its price at…
ByZoo and Men’s Health. Two magazines poles apart. Especially, one would imagine, on the football pitch. However, when the magazines…
ByPearson, publisher of the Financial Times, can come off Press Gazette’s ‘skinflints list’after coming up with a £60,000 donation for…
ByDamian Thompson, editor-in-chief of the Catholic Herald, is, I’m reliably informed, fighting the good fight for the faith. Says my…
ByLondon entertainment mag Time Out rather left itself open to cries of foul with a Critic’s Choice recommendation for the…
ByWe know Jon Snow as a broad-minded journalist and newsreader, but it seems he had his mind expanded through rather…
ByThe granting of an honorary degree to investigative journalist John Pilger in South Africa reminded Axegrinder of the time in…
ByNewspapers are like buildings, according to the University of Manchester, which for some reason has seen fit to issue a…
ByAxegrinder, as readers know, loves to go to parties, and one date already in his diary is Monday, 16 June.…
ByTough times for Bath Chronicle editor Sam Holliday in the town where the Windsor Bridge offices are now too big…
ByMove over Fatboy Slim, there is another superstar DJ hitting the airwaves… none other than veteran Sun news sub Graham…
ByAn alleged fracas between two journalists at the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough has ended up in court, Axegrinder has learned.…
ByI understand that research is currently being impaired at the Financial Times while the library at One Southwark Bridge is…
ByAxegrinder’s award for the most brazen PR stunt this week goes to Future’s monthly sci-fi title, SFX, which is being…
By‘Not everyone has a computer,’fulminated a recent Bristol Evening Post comment column about a whingeing pensioner missing out on an…
ByWhat is it with Richard Desmond and former News of the World staffers? First, the former royal editor of the…
Byit must be tough being the Sunday Times’s star columnist and restaurant reviewer, AA Gill. One of his latest assignments…
ByJournlaists on the Birmingham Mail, Post and Sunday Mercury are the latest to make the move from an office actually…
ByBloggers are up in arms with Fleet Street’s diarists for pinching their stories without crediting them. Two bloggers, Guido Fawkes…
ByA cutting from the Muswell Hill Journal’s Kidzone section left Axegrinder wincing with its similarities to the photo put out…
ByDespite his newfound wealth, Piers ‘celebrity’Morgan admits there are a few perks he misses about his days editing the Daily…
ByWithout a hint of irony, the Sunday Express managed to dream up the following headline on the disappearance of Madeleine…
ByMemo to all journalists: never cross a monk with a tape recorder. That would appear to be a pretty sound…
ByAxegrinder had hoped that news would filter through of some booze-fuelled fisticuffs in a late-night West End bar or at…
ByWhen is an exclusive not an exclusive? When it’s so very old that it’s new, it would appear. Take the…
ByThe jockeying for position to take over from the Beeb’s political editor Nick Robinson has already started. My spies in…
ByWhatever happened to Craig Mackenzie, ebullient younger brother of Kelvin and still, in name at least, deputy editor of the…
ByA group of ancient Fleet Street hacks has started a group blog. They are calling themselves the Gentlemen Ranters and…
ByWriting from bitter experience, if only all journalists could be as forgiving as Channel 4’s Jon Snow ‒ who forewent…
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