ABSTRACT
‘Corrupting’, ‘pernicious’, ‘a cosy conspiracy’, ‘appalling’: these are all words used recently to describe the ‘lobby system’ in British journalism. They were spoken both by people who have used the system to help their political employers, such as Joe Haines (press secretary to Harold Wilson), and by journalists who were subjected to it. 1 It is a system in which favoured correspondents are given private and confidential briefings, mainly by the Prime Minister’s press secretary and by other ministers. The journalists do not reveal where the information has come from.
