Our free and fearless press, so we have been told time and again, cleaned up its act in the wake of Part 1 the Leveson Inquiry, so there was no need for Part 2. And time and again, we discover that there has been no cleaning up. The bad behaviour just carries on. And the principal culprit, as so often before Leveson, is the Murdoch press.
Ben Stokes
But instead of its usual staple targets - Scary Muslims™, Rotten Lefties™, Trans people, those who work in local Government and in the Civil Service, and anyone involved in Political Correctness Gorn Mad™, the Murdoch Sun has today splashed England cricketer Ben Stokes on its front page. Or rather, it has splashed his family.
And it has splashed his family across the front page for no reason other than flogging a few more copies on the back of Stokes’ fame, telling readers “Exclusive: Tragedy That Hunts Stokes’ Family … Hero Ben’s brother and sister were shot dead”. His Mum’s ex-husband killed their children and then shot himself. Before Stokes was born..
What, then, does this have to do with Stokes’ cricket career? Nothing at all. It is crude, it is intrusive, it is insensitive, it is beyond disgraceful. To his significant credit, Stokes has made a dignified and moving statement on the affair.
He won't resign ...
“Today the Sun has seen fit to publish extremely painful, sensitive and personal details concerning events in the private lives of my family, going back more than 31 years … It is hard to find words that adequately describe such low and despicable behaviour, disguised as journalism. I cannot conceive of anything more immoral, heartless or contemptuous to the feelings and circumstances of my family”. And there is more.
... she'll do nothing about it ...
“For more than three decades, my family has worked hard to deal with the private trauma inevitably associated with these events and has taken great care to keep private what were deeply personal and traumatic events. On Saturday, the Sun sent a ‘reporter’ to my parents’ home in New Zealand to question them, out of the blue, on this incredibly upsetting topic”. This is why no link to the Sun story is provided here.
... they'll just weasel out of getting involved ...
He continues “To use my name as an excuse to shatter the privacy and private lives of … my parents is utterly disgusting … This is the lowest form of journalism … it is totally out of order … We need to take a serious look at how we allow our press to behave”.
... but they will say something ...
Many victims of press misbehaviour will be quietly nodding their agreement with Ben Stokes. There is no possible public interest defence to running this story, replete as ever with invented quotes from “a source”. What is worse, press non-regulator IPSO will do nothing about this latest overstepping of the line. If Stokes makes a complaint to them, they will inevitably side with the Sun. And it will take them months even to do that.
... like reminding us about Part 2 of this
The worst aspect of this latest appalling example of press misbehaviour is that none of those concerned - hacks, sub-editors, editorial staff and management - appears to have lifted a finger to stop the story being published. That says more about the moral compass of those people - or the lack of it - than any criticism can do.
Sun editor Tony Gallagher should be sacked after this lapse. His boss Rebekah Brooks should resign. But these people are totally without morals. So they’ll just carry on.
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the Scum just being the Scum.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, a bunch of far right cowardly cunts.
Roll on Leveson 2 and all the Murdoch/Rothermere Uriah Heeps on the dole.
From the 'class act' that brought you:
ReplyDelete'Bonkers Bruno locked up'
And, of course
'The Truth...'
May a myriad of misfortunes plague murdoch, brooks, gallagher and the rest of the f**ing scumbags in their editorial, for the rest of their days.
One can only feel deep sympathy for Ben Stokes, the victim of deeply immoral, sociopathic and greedy individuals who seek to profit out of tragedy.
ReplyDeleteThe Sun did the same with the Hillsborough tragedy, smearing Liverpool fans and the great city, throwing and smearing without a shred of evidence. Simply doing as Thatcher wanted to throw off the public from questioning the behaviour of South Yorkshire Police.
Sadly despite Levenson I, the current incumbents of government refuse to implement Levenson II, on the bidding of the Murdoch press, who in return shill for the Tories.
Let's hope the backlash from this gross invasion of Ben Stokes' privacy leads the public outside of Liverpool to take action and boycott the S**n.
My argument is that they decided to weaponize this tragic history in order to avoid having to focus on what a crap job Rupert's puppet Boris is doing. I hope Ben and his family sue the pants off them. The Sun, written by a bunch of awful souless cunt for vapid cunts in order to aid cunts.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to Ben Stokes accepting Sports Personality of the Year, and closing his speech with a mike-dropping diss to the Sun.
ReplyDeleteWe need Leveson 2 NOW!
ReplyDelete