MR HACK - No. 53

MEET A MAN WHO SAYS WE JOURNALISTS ENJOY A HEADCOUNT OF PEOPLE LOSING THEIR JOBS!
His name is Adrian Huston. He seems to think we take great pleasure and delight in people being thrown out of work.  How crass can you get?  He runs a tax accountancy firm in Belfast. In his advice column in the "Belfast Telegraph" business supplement this week his opening paragraph reads: "The media seem to revel in a daily headcount of job losses or lists of businesses in dire straits"  Revel, Mr Huston?  You must have a very warped perspective.  Journalists do not merry-make (a dictionary definition of "revel") in others' misfortune. They and their families suffer redundancies themselves. And few have been insulated from the slings and arrows of everyday life in this Province. Their families suffer like everyone else.  We give great publicity to the creation of new jobs, or hadn't you noticed?  It must be good to have a media platform from which to launch a tired-sounding attack on the media. Mr Huston's editorial ends with his website address at which he offers a number of articles he has written. You can download  them - at £9.50 a pop!  Bit of a journalist yourself, Mr Huston?  I don't think I'll be taking any advice from this man, and won't be advising anyone else to, given what seems to be his twisted outlook on our profession.