Radio Wales Phone-In

There was really only one topic on radio phone-ins yesterday. Jason Mohammad, the astute host of the Radio Wales Phone-In show, described it as "the story everyone is talking about". He asked whether listeners had "lost trust" in journalists following allegations about the hacking of Milly Dowler's voicemail. This is a really good show. It's sandwiched a little awkwardly between the more relaxed mid-morning magazine slot that is Jamie Owen and Louise Elliott and Roy Noble's popular afternoon delights, and on hard news days it sticks out a bit. But this is when it is at its strongest, and Mohammad has the knack of stirring debate without sounding goading. To listen to it is a reminder of how you can get under the skin of a place quickly by hearing its voices, accents, and points of view on such a show. Yesterday, south Wales sounded hugely decent and articulate. One caller told journalists on the programme that during their training "they must have had their integrity and principles removed". He batted away excuses about the pressure to find stories at any cost. "I'm nearly crying for them," he snarled. But John, a Times reader from north Wales, sighed at what he called "the heavy moralisers in south Wales". The old battles re-formed around a new topic, and recommenced.