http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/23/terror_scare_spin/
John Lettice
"In an amazing coincidence, news of a thwarted 911-style terror attack on the UK emerged just hours before the Government was due to unveil a legislative programme chock-full of security-related goodies. The strangely fact-free story, available from the Mail, ITN and The Scotsman, among others, is attributed to a "senior authoritative source", and Downing Street, the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police "declined to comment."
As journalistic constructs designed to distance government from responsibility for the junk the spin doctors are handing out go, "senior authoritative source" is pretty esoteric. It's not 'Home Office sources', nor is 'sources close to the Home Office' - maybe it's not even 'informed sources', and our confidence in it is further undermined by the apparent need to say in the story that the source "who has no axe to grind, said that the threats were real and were not deliberately exaggerated for political purposes." When you have to put in your story, 'look, I know you're all going to think this is junk made up by the Government to coincide with the Queens speech, but it's not, OK?', you are in bad shape."
