Alastair Campbell vs. the media

During his time at 10 Downing St, there were few better than Alastair Campbell at sparring with the press.  But now the sparring’s become a full-blooded assault.  He writes a forceful piece in the Times on the media’s involvement in Britney Spears’ downfall:

“The question is whether there is any room within media judgements about what is news, and how to pursue it, that allows room for a basic humanity about the condition of the people who are the media commodities. You do not have to be a qualified psychiatrist to see that Spears has serious mental health issues. Does there ever come a point where a judgment forms that says, let’s just leave her alone? Even as I pose the question, I can hear the weary sighs of hard news men and women wondering whether I have gone soft. I can imagine, too, the shrugs of all those with a vested interest in the Britney industry being maintained as a great soap opera that still sells her music, her videos and all the attendant paraphernalia.