How the concept of "innocent until proven guilty", one of the pillars of British democracy, is being butchered by the tabloid press.By now you're all probably familiar with the fresh display of tabloid barbarism seen in the wake of the tragic murder of Jo Yeates.
In brief, in the 72 hours that sandwiched the arrest and then the release of suspect Chris Jefferies in connection with the murder, the media handed him some diabolical public guillotine for the sake of a few extra banknotes basted in lynchmob froth.
No-one, not even the police, knows whether Mr Jefferies has anything to do, or not, with the murder. In fact, no-one will know until a trial takes place.
But the fact that Mr Jefferies hasn't even been charged yet seems to have completely eluded the tabloids. They've already passed their verdict, dishing all the dirt they could dig up in order to destroy him.
The news massacre has been so mental and OTT that even Attorney General Dominic Grieve went on record expressing his concerns that the current coverage of the Jo Yeates murder may be in breach of the Contempt of Court Act as well as an impediment to the ongoing legal proceedings.
The following articles are a fine analysis of the public mauling of Chris Jefferies:
Mark Thompson ("The media need to stop these witchhunts") focuses on the astonishing collection of what he dubs "ridiculous nudge-nudge, wink-wink comments" and generally anything that will make Chris Jefferies look as weird as possible.
Jerry Hayes ("The hounding of Christopher Jeffries and anyone who is different") makes the excellent point that "[i]f [Mr Jefferies] is charged, British Justice assures him of a fair trial. But if he is not charged or acquitted, his life will never be the same again. He will be regarded as that strange, eccentric, blue rinsed loner, somehow connected with a death".
Finally, Enemies of Reason ("Chris Jefferies and trial by media") draws parallels with the character assassination and [the] targeting aspects of people's private lives" as already seen in "the trials by media undergone by Colin Stagg, Robert Murat, Barry George, the parents of Madeleine McCann and the first man to be accused of the Ipswich murders of 2006 (who was leater released without charge)".
4 comments:
parallels with the trials by media undergone by Colin Stagg, Robert Murat, Barry George, the parents of Madeleine McCann and the first man to be accused of the Ipswich murders of 2006 (who was leater released without charge)
To be honest this was a lot more vicious that the examples drawn in the OP. This was proper rentless front page mashing every day for the last 5 days at least. IF there is something that will bring this country down it really is our rabid tabloid press.
Here we go... I was wondering how long it'd take you bleedin hearts & lefties to run in aid of assorted perverts and lunatics. thing is you lash out at every single paper that isnt the grauniad no matter what they do...you want to silence the free press and freedom to report facts, thats your liberal selves explained in a nutshell.
The police "operation Fix up the local Wierdo" got into swing quickly, aided and abetted by the Tabloids. Totally with you on this one. Innocent until proven guilty is a good test of who thinks about justice, and who's a knee jerk twat. We don't agree on much, but the basic principles of justice unite the libertarian with the decent left
It's everywhere. If you don't conform, if you stand out in any way, you are a target. Not that the left is immune to this.
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