On the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, we will remember the fallen.
The attacks on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris on 7 January 2015 would go on to be overshadowed by the multiple attacks across the French capital almost a year later. But partly because they were so unprecedented and partly because they were an attack on journalistic freedom, the deaths of 12 innocent people in the Charlie Hebdo murders still resonate here at Demolition News Towers.
A free press is a cornerstone of democracy. It is important. It is vital. I am even willing to grudgingly accept the bigotry of Katie Hopkins and Sean Hannity, the obnoxious xenophobia and lowest-common-denominator falsehoods peddled by the Daily Mail, and the bile-filled intrusions of the News of the World. I am willing to accept those because a free press is a double-edged sword; a sword that has the ability to cut to the truth.
Were it not for a free press, Richard Nixon would still be viewed as a kindly old US president; the MPs’ expenses scandal would have remained a closely-guarded secret; and Lance Armstrong would be revered as a superhuman athlete rather than reviled as the drug-fuelled cheat that he was ultimately proven to be.
A lone reporter operating in the journalistic backwaters of demolition is never likely to bring down a Government, to change or to save lives. I have yet to be the subject of a fatwah (although I do think there are a few unresolved thinwahs with my name on them). But the same rules apply.
I have been threatened for reporting the facts. I have been ostracised for having the temerity to suggest that the site deaths that occur almost weekly on construction and demolition sites are scandalous. And just last week I was lambasted and castigated for pointing out the fact that some of the buildings damaged by recent flooding in Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire would need to be demolished and that demolition contractors would benefit financially from that unexpected work.
Such reporting may make uncomfortable, untimely and even insensitive reading. That doesn’t make it wrong. You might be offended but that does not alter the facts behind the story.
And all of this is why today (7 January) I will take a moment to remember those killed at the offices of Charlie Hebdo; why I will be sporting a beret kindly sent to me by Armac Group’s Adrian McLean in the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks; and why DemolitionNews starts 2016 with an even greater determination to hold up a mirror to this great, constantly-changing, endlessly frustrating but ultimately fascinating industry of ours.
We sincerely hope you’ll tag along for what promises to be a bumpy but fascinating ride.
