Yes, it’s the tabloid press again, mortal enemy of the working Dominatrix. I should know better than to ruffle their folded newsprint feathers. One of these days, I’m likely to have my home burnt down by strangers who have read some spurious headline that Sick Hooker Slide is an immigrant, gypsy, child-murdering, headscarf-wearing, carcinogenic vice girl who regularly leaves messages on Andrew Sachs’ voicemail whilst pissing over war veterans and popular footballers. Until then, I’ll blog and be damned.
Today’s Jan Moir Award for Shoddy Journalism goes to Tom Newton-Dunn and John Kay of the Sun. It’s not that their journalism is shoddy exactly. Quite the opposite. These journalists have done an excellent job at achieving exactly what they set out to do, as evidenced by the deafening response from the hand-wringing, skim-reading masses.
The URL for the Sun’s “Justice For Jamie” petition appeared on the board at Dommes.co.uk. “Please sign and let there be some real justice for Jamie and his family,” wept the OP. This was followed by a stream of messages by those who had hastily entered their details at the Sun’s website, adding such sentiments as “evil little bastards should rot”, “the scumball should be locked up this time for life” and “Venables is protected just because of his bloody human rights”. Much as I’m sure that the intentions of everyone there who signed were entirely noble, I believe it’s been a huge mistake.
It’s an emotive subject, but this petition is certainly not going to result in justice for James Bulger or anyone else. The exact wording is: “Sign our petition calling on the Government for transparency in the case of Jon Venables and the scrapping of the rules protecting killers who reoffend. If you give us your postcode we can use it to lobby your local MP.”
The Sun know that they can’t publish the story about Venables’ upcoming trial now because they’re not legally allowed to and it will almost certainly cause the case against him to fail in court. Yet if enough people get behind the Sun’s decision to publish it regardless, the News International solicitors be able to use the “public interest” defence. With enough support from well-meaning readers, the Sun will release this information and its sales, web clicks and advertising revenue will soar, but ultimately any criminal charges against Venables will be jeopardised as a direct result. When Venables’ case inevitably collapses amidst rabid press coverage, taxpayers will have to fund a whole new identity for him, which the Sun will then drum up a brand new campaign about, thus appearing heroic and raking in yet more money from those they’ve ultimately betrayed.
It’s a cynical marketing ploy by News International to exploit the grief and anger of people who think they’re doing the right thing and, in my opinion, that’s far sicker than any new crime that The Sun could promise to publish details of. I haven’t put a link to the article or petition here as I don’t want to generate any lucrative extra clicks for their site, but you’re welcome to search for it if you feel the need. In the meantime, here’s Private Eye’s celebration of 40 years of the Sun, via SepticIsle.info.
