27th March 2008
Colofn Golwg
Yn ystod yr wythnosau nesaf bydd cyfeiriadau a rhifau ffôn cartrefi Aelodau Seneddol o Gymru yn Llundain yn cael eu cyhoeddi am y tro cyntaf. Mae hyn yn sgil cais o dan y Ddeddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth, mae’n debyg gan newyddiadurwr yn gweithio i’r cyfryngau yng Nghymru, yn enw tryloywed. Ym mis pum mlwyddiant y penderfyniad i fynd i ryfel yn Irac ar sail anwiredd, pwy all anghytuno nad oes angen mwy o atebolrwydd mewn gwleidyddiaeth ddemocrataidd?
Ond pa ddiddordeb cyhoeddus sydd yn cael ei wasanaethu drwy gyhoeddi’r cyfeiriadau yma, tybed? Byddai’r newyddiadurwr yn dadlau bod gan y cyhoedd yr hawl i wybod lle mae gwleidyddion yn byw gan mai coffrau cyhoeddus sydd yn talu am gyfran helaeth o gostau’r llety. Ac yn sicr, mi oedd un Aelod Torïaidd wedi cael ei ddala mas am hawlio ar dŷ nad oedd yn bodoli rhai blynyddoedd yn ôl a hynny cyn achos Derek Conway. Ond eto, oni fyddai archwiliad ariannol trylwyr yn medru adnabod achosion fel hyn? Mae’n ofynnol yn barod i Aelodau Seneddol gyflwyno datganiad morgais bob chwe mis.
Mae arna i ofn mai rhywbeth arall sydd yn celu tu ôl i’r cais am fanylion cyfeiriadau preifat Aelodau Seneddol - chwilfrydedd y cyfryngau, sydd y dyddiau hyn yn bwydo ar sgandalau personol. Mi oedd newyddiaduraeth ymchwiliol ym Mhrydain ar un adeg yn golygu astudio rhai o bynciau mawr y dydd mewn dyfnder er mwyn cyflyru newid pwysig mewn polisi neu yn y farn gyhoeddus. Cofier, er enghraifft, y gwaith ar Thalidomide gan y Sunday Times ar ddechrau’r saithdegau. Mae’r Insight Team ar y papur hwnnw mwy neu lai wedi ei ddarfod nawr, ac mae newyddiaduraeth fwy egr, diog a llythrennol anghyfrifol y papurau tabloid nawr yn rhan o’r brif ffrwd.
Mae hyn yn rhannol oherwydd yr angen am straeon rhad a syml yn oes newyddion 24/7. Dilorni unigolion, wrth gwrs, yn cyd-fynd a’n hobsesiwn a’r diwylliant enwogrwydd, fel mae Lembit druan wedi profi wrth law’r Mail on Sunday yn ddiweddar yma. Ond nid dim ond y rhai hynny mae Mr Murdoch yn cyflogi a’u tebyg fydd yn gorfoleddu pan gyhoeddir trefniadau byw preifat Aelodau Seneddol. Bydd Aelodau Seneddol benywaidd yn medru cael eu dilyn nawr o’u llun ar BBC Parliament i’w carreg drws. Mi fydd y rhestr gyfan o ddiddordeb mawr i Al Qaida fydd, cyn hir, gyda manylion cannoedd o dargedau newydd i’w dicter dros bleidlais bondigrybwyll Mawrth 2003. Ac eithrio un fu yno, sydd bellach a gwell diogelwch.
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Over the next few weeks, the London addresses and phone numbers of every Welsh Member of Parliament will be made public. This arises from a query under the Freedom of Information Act, most likely by a journalist working for the media in Wales, in the name of transparency. On the month of the fifth anniversary of the decision to go to war in Iraq which we now know was based on untruths, who can disagree that there’s a real need for more accountability within a democratic system?
I wonder, however, what public interest is served by the publication of these addresses? Journalists would argue that the public have the right to know where politicians live since public money contributes substantially towards their accommodation. Indeed, one Conservative Member was caught out a few years ago, claiming for a house that didn’t exist - several years before the Derek Conway scandal. But yet, wouldn’t a thorough financial investigation uncover cases such as this? Members of Parliament are already obliged to present a mortgage statement every six months.
I’m afraid that there’s another driving force behind this request for the private addresses of MPs - the media’s appetite for a story, which feeds these days on personal scandal. There was a time when investigative journalism in Britain meant examining some of the biggest topics of the day in great detail in order to inspire important policy changes, or influence public opinion. Remember, for example, the work done by the Sunday Times on Thalidomide at the beginning of the seventies. The Insight Team on that paper has more or less come to an end, and now some of the most edgy, lazy and irresponsible journalism that once was the prerogative of the tabloids are now part of the main stream.
This is partly because of the need for cheap and simple stories in the age of 24/7 news. Belitteling individuals goes hand hand with our obsession with the celebrity culture, as poor Lembit knows only too well from his treatment by the Mail on Sunday recently. But its not just those who are employed by Murdoch and so on who will be rejoicing when private information about Members of Parliament is made public. Female Members of Parliament will now be able to be stalked from the screes on BBC Parliament right to their front door. The list is also bound to be of great interest to Al Qaida which, before long, will have a long list of new victims to target because of the March 2003 vote. Minus one who was there of course, who now has better security.
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