With respect, the faith some of you have that security failures can be dealt with internally is quite stunning. It's been proven over and over again that unless companies, governments and their agencies are exposed to external scrutiny then eventually someone will stop doing their job properly, and eventually there will be a catastrophe. In the last couple of months, the news agencies here in Japan have helped expose two large companies -- an automaker and a revolving door manufacturer -- that tried to hush up internal quality failures that killed three people, including a young boy that was crushed to death in a revolving door. In that last case, there were 30 previous instances of minor injuries caused by the doors in question which were hushed up. If companies were not at risk of being exposed by the media, then they would not be answerable for these kinds of failures and everyone would be at greater risk.
And you guys are trying to tell me that it's the media's fault that airport security isn't up to scratch? That reporters should be punished for embarrassing your industry by exposing its failures? Pardon me, but bullsh*t.
I'm not a tabloid reporter, and I am a full-blooded supporter of the aviation and aerospace industries. But there is NOTHING that makes these industries exempt from the same media scrutiny that's applied to all others, to everybody's benefit. Thats democracy for you, so stop whining about it.
Right then, where's my hardhat?