Tabloid Troll? Tabloid Scum, More Like

Media bloggers, in case anyone was not aware, do not exist totally independently of one another: on occasion, there are gatherings where news and ideas are freely exchanged, folks get to know and understand one another, and there is some consumption of refreshment. It is not giving too much away to tell that the next of these is likely to take place in London, and that I may attend.

A meeting may well happen somewhere near here

Another regular attendee at such meetings is the serially tenacious Tim Ireland of Bloggerheads fame, whose observation that “I blog about liars in media and politics. I often get lied about as a result” is in reality a considerable understatement. To observe the lengths to which some will go – and the depths to which they will sink – in order to try and shut him up is to observe the very nastiest side of The Dark Arts.

This includes the kind of behaviour that tabloid hacks consider acceptable, provided it is them doing it to others, and not the other way round. Daily Star showbiz hack Nigel Pauley, who took exception to my characterising him as “a nasty little man” recently, took to Twitter in a routine act of malicious defamation to show that he is indeed nasty and little in equal measure.

“He has form for abusing women ... Another female MP was forced to get a restraining order against him over harassment” he asserted. And, going once more into Jon Stewart mode, two things here: first, Tim Ireland does not have form for abusing anyone – period – and second, nobody has taken out any order of any kind against him, and he has not subjected anyone to any kind of duress.

Yet Nigel Pauley clearly believes that publishing such remarks is a legitimate tactic, as no doubt does former tabloid hack Dennis Rice. Rice, who still attempts to hide behind the alias Tabloid Troll, went after a number of bloggers in his bullying and threatening way and came unstuck when Tim Ireland unmasked him. Rice got his comeuppance but his congenital stupidity prevented him from taking this on board.

So, aided by an obedient echo chamber, Rice has taken to physically threatening Tim Ireland, and by inference his family. Combining his threats with accusations of stalking, Rice tells that he is “going to have to make a trip to Surrey to put [Ireland] right on a few things” and that he “Might sit outside [his house] for a week”. He then makes the goading observation “such a coward on his own doorstep”.

And, just in case anyone thought this wasn’t a physical threat, he states that “one-on-one is required here” before his echo chamber volunteers to accompany him and Rice says “Got a friend who is offering to film it for You Tube [sic]”. If anyone did that to Rice and his pal, the protests would be long and loud, and the Police would be called PDQ (Rice is already known to his local force).

But it’s fine for him to do it to others. Utter, utter scum.