The Mail And Russell Brand

The exposé by the Murdoch Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches of comedian Russell Brand has told us many things: the rich and powerful enjoying the limelight can get away with behaviour that would get lesser mortals a criminal record, it takes a lot of journalistic hard yards and yet more legalling to get an exposé published, and not everyone likes the result.

Russell Brand

Bev Turner at Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”) was one of them. “You are being attacked [Russell Brand] … Establishment media don't know what to do with the fact that you have 6million subscribers”. But not to worry, Brand was welcome on her show anytime. That one of her fellow presenters is the desperate and devalued Dan Wootton is somehow missed.

Aseem Malhotra told Brand “We support you mate” before the Tweet announcing his endorsement disappeared from view. An observant Tweeter asked “Was it the Times article or Dispatches?” Floor crosser Paul Embery declared “Russell Brand is entitled to the presumption of innocence”. Except that there was no criminal case against him. Then came the hypocrisy.

From media noise floor occupant TalkTV, tedious self-promotion specialist Julia Hartley Dooda: “I waited to see the … investigation of [Russell Brand] before forming an opinion on the allegations … I also want to hear [his] defence … Without a Police inquiry or court case, we can’t know for sure what really happened”. Which wasn’t what she said about Huw Edwards.

But in the biscuit-taking pantheon of media shithousery, these bad faith actors paled into insignificance before the inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker: the Mail on Sunday, as befits the modus operandi of the Dacre doggies, after saying less than boo for the duration of the Sunday Times and Channel 4 investigation, suddenly and miraculously knew more than everyone else.

We know this from the MoS’ front page headline: “As comic brazenly takes to the stage, Police urge victims to come forward … BRAND IS ACCUSED OF RAPE - AND GROOMING A GIRL OF 16”. Moreover, readers are told of an “Exclusive MoS Dossier”. The paper has devoted six pages to “The Full Extraordinary Story”. The problem for the MoS is the lack of exclusivity.

Which does not extend much further than “Four women alleged they were assaulted by Brand, one of whom had previously told the Mail on Sunday of his ‘controlling and manipulative’ behaviour”. So why didn’t the Mail titles, armed with the best media lawyers, say anything earlier? Why wait until someone else does the e-legwork and has it all legalled?

And it is in answering these questions that we arrive at the heart of how the Mail titles operate. They may or may not have had something about Brand in the safe, but especially with recent budget cuts, so much of their allegedly original content comes from all those opinion writers, and the likes of their “Royal Correspondents” who recycle press releases and make stuff up.

The Daily Mail, and MoS, can Doxx a target’s home - maybe not specify the address, but a photo is fine by them - along with an estimate of what the property is worth. They can trawl social media histories for dirt, and when it is deemed necessary, get a private investigator to dig up more. The titles have a grim reputation for illegal information gathering (pace Steve Whittamore).

But the kind of investigation that the Times and Sunday Times, to their credit, and Channel 4 have undertaken? Not the Mail. They wait until after the story breaks, and then tell readers “Amid a series of explosive allegations … BBC and Channel 4 bosses faced questions over whether complaints by staff about Brand's alleged behaviour were ignored”. Bash the broadcasters.

The Beeb sacked Brand, and Channel 4 was a party to exposing him. All the Mail did was to dump on both organisations while doing next to nothing in the way of original journalism. Even when they had the story - “One of the alleged victims, Jordan Martin, told this newspaper in 2015” - they did nothing. All the Mail does is get righteous, kick the BBC, and sponge off others’ work.

Then in the retelling, claim the credit. It’s reality, Jim, but not as we know it.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by becoming a Patron on Patreon at

https://www.patreon.com/Timfenton