The title is taken from an episode of one of my favourite tv shows The Thick Of It and is quoted by the hapless minister for The Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship (or DoSAC as it's known in the series) Nicola Murray when she realises that yet another mishap is heading her way.
The same could be said of Newscorp concerning their pre-emptive strike at Gawker before they released their story about Bill O'Reilly which could have more ramifications than just the embarressment of the irate Irishman.
Forbes has the story that Fox has been trying to knee-cap by sniffily dimissing Gawker with false stories that it is "dying" in their news reports, namely that:
the top-rated Fox News host is the prime mover behind a highly irregular police investigation in his Long Island hometown. A detective working for internal affairs was allegedly asked to meet with private investigators who were trying to build a case against another detective, who had become romantically involved with O’Reilly’s wife while the two were separated.
Hope?
Straw Clutching?
Probably.
As Jeff Bercovici says at the end:
Disparate and fragmentary as these allegations may be, they’re exactly the sort of threads that investigators with a broad, vague remit could pull out and knit together. Maybe. The odds may be slim of building a case that resembles the one against News International. Then again, the stakes are much higher. Fox News is no newspaper with slim profit margins and an uncertain future. It’s the glowing core of the News Corp. reactor, with profits of more than $800 million next year. When speculation that the scandal might force News Corp. to sell off or shut down its British newspapers was reported, Wall Street reacted favorably. The same won’t happen if the threat comes to Fox.
But isn't that the real story? If it hadn't been for the dogged reporting of Nick Davies from The Guardian then British politics, British media, British police and the British public at large would still be in thrall of the Murdochs.
The odious News Of The World would still be out their pumping out it's bilious mixture of sensationism and racism under the veneer of patriotism wrapped around supporting "the everyman".
And worst of all the takeover of BSkyB would been taking place with what would now be a British version of Fox News.
The Murdoch's may still have their crappy daily tabloid in the UK but people have now seen behind the curtain and no longer fear the little man making all the noise. James Murdoch has to come back to face the Commons Committee to explain why his former employees have stated that he wasn't telling the whole truth. Glen Mulcaire, the former private investigator who's legal fees News International were still paying until July lost an appeal earlier this month and was forced to hand over the names of those at News International who ordered him to hack phones over to the lawyers of comedian Steve Coogan. There are at least three victims, including former MP George galloway who have stated that they will be having their day in court and will not be settling out of it just as Gordon Taylor and Max Clifford did back in 2010.
As the noose tightens around those at Newscorp and News International you can see it putting them off their game a little bit. What other reason would there be for those so skilled in theto try and run with this story dark arts at Fox to actually allow college dropout and wingnut welfare receipient Sean Hannity and Tucker Carsonto try and run with this story?
Walking into a room full of fans with a big bucket of shit.
One can only hope.