The Daily Express Are ****

[BBKing]

http://torytroll.blogspot.com/2009/0...-dunblane.html

http://torytroll.blogspot.com/2009/0...la-murray.html

http://www.bloggerheads.com/archives...n_townsend.asp

http://www.chickyog.net/2009/03/10/p...-idiot-update/

In brief - Express writes muck raking stories pointing out that the children who survived the Dunblane massacre are now 18 (and thus the press can legally go after them). Amazingly some of them have Facebook pages, tattoos and swear and drink*. This is apparently shocking.

The blogosphere, where decent people live, chucked a cyberbucket of brown stuff over the Express journalist involved, resulting in the paper's editor bleating about how nasty we all are on the internet. Awwwww. Diddums. If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

* This actually describes the woman I share my life with quite well. Obviously she's engaged in the destruction of civilisation, too. I bet it describes some of you, too.

[LondonRoad]

Well in the "how low can you go?" moral limbo contest that puts the express in the lead in my eyes.

Sounds like an average bunch of teenagers to me ......

[BBKing]

Yes, 'Survivors Of Horrible Experience Getting On With Their Lives' would have been quite adequate, frankly. As would leaving them the hell alone, of course.

[Stuart]

The original webpage appears to have mysteriously disappeared.. So, Google's cache of the article is at http://209.85.229.132/search?client=...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

A couple of quotes from the article:

“I’m sure that when they look back at what they have done in 10 years time they will be cringing with embarrassment.”

Yes? And? I should think 90% of people did stuff at 18 that they were embarrased by when they got older. I know I did.

The Dunblane survivors were kept away from the spotlight in the aftermath of the tragedy to allow them to cope. Indeed, no photographs of any of the children have been seen in more than a decade, and the social network sites give the first insight into how their lives have progresse

So they were given a deserved quiet life? Quiet that is, until some slavering hack from the Express decided to look them up, presumably in search of a story that (for once) didn't involve rehashing the death of a Royal.

Another way to look at it: They are teenagers. Teenagers do things like this (it's actually an important part of growing up). They have also been through a horror the likes of which most of us will never encounter, watching their friends die horribly and in agony.

What's worse? Them acting like normal teenagers and getting the same attention from the media that normal teenagers would (ie none apart from the odd uncovered programme showing police chasing drunken teenagers up the street), or them acting like normal teenagers and having to put up with the apparent disapproval of various journalists, MPs and other people who frankly have no business commenting?

That is pretty sick, even for the Express.

Is there no media that will cover the fact the Express has chosen to do this?

Well, the Express has been Getting It Badly Wrong over Dunblane ever since they ran an artist's impression of Thomas Hamilton brandishing a pistol in each hand, so this is just par for the course.

completely sick.

They can't get away with this, Where is the Moral outrage from other sectors of the press? Surely the Mail would love to wack the express?

[BBKing]

The MSP quoted in the article has come out and claimed she was misquoted and didn't realise what the article was about. Sounds to me like politicians need to stop prostrating themselves in front of the tabloids to me. OK, that's like asking a fish to give up water.

There are a couple of interesting developments here - first the Labour Party is apparently gearing up for a post-newspaper future by copying the Obama campaign (which, realising it couldn't compete and there wasn't any point, bypassed conventional news media and went straight for a massive local organisation campaign), secondly various political blogs are starting to make their own news by issuing briefing documents. Like this one:

http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/200...ector-testing/

This again links into a general feel that conventional journalism is doing a very bad job of holding people to account and a very good job of enabling all sorts of quackery and bad policy to develop, usually at the public expense. Come to think of it, that's what New Labour is, isn't it?

The sheer effort and skill put into combating this is perhaps what I like about the British political blogs at present and the best answer to the question 'what is it all for?'.

Various media outlets have earlier been fed examples of local authorities using lie detection technology to tackle benefit fraud: this BBC article, this Times piece and in the Birmingham Post. But while some local authorities claim success in saving money - none of the coverage has questioned the scientific validity of the technology or its [lack of] reliability.

The MSP quoted in the article has come out and claimed she was misquoted and didn't realise what the article was about. Sounds to me like politicians need to stop prostrating themselves in front of the tabloids to me. OK, that's like asking a fish to give up water.

She said the Express contacted her about social networking sites and never in the context of dublane. I believe her.

[BBKing]

I believe her too, but I'd have more respect if she used her elected position to declare that the Express was acting in a wholly reprehensible fashion and demanding a withdrawal and right-of-reply to the misquotation.

[Druchii]

Unfriendly mail sent to the author at: Paula.Murray@Express.co.uk

Sure, she has thousands by now, but 1 more won't harm.

Originally Posted by Druchii

Unfriendly mail sent to the author at: Paula.Murray@Express.co.uk

Sure, she has thousands by now, but 1 more won't harm.

I strongly advise against sending personal and/or unfriendly e-mails to an individual.

At best it does not help, and at worst your attacking someone who was simply following the editorial line at the paper (not saying that is the case, but it might be). It also discredits the opposition to the Express as they have a story about 'abusive bloggers' and they will try to use that as a deflection when confronted about the story.

Many people would have been involved with the story and it is the paper as a whole which should bare the brunt of the complaints. E-Mailing the paper itself won't make a blind bit of difference, issuing a formal complaint might, as would drawing awareness of what they did since they are now trying to hide it.

Finally this is not at one persons fault. The Daily Express obviously decided at this country has now sunk to such cynicism, such eagerness to find flaws, and so willing to believe the worst in everyone that an article trashing, and invading the privacy of, survivors of a school shooting would sell more papers.

In the editors at the Express, it's the toothless Press Complaints Commission, and it's the readers rewarding this type of journalism with their wallets that is the problem. The best we can do is send a message that is sick Journalism and it won't be accepted.

[BBKing]

Hmm. The PCC are obviously toothless, but a few emails saying 'While not a reader I was interested to discover a campaign by public spirited internet bloggers to draw attention to how low your journalistic standards have sunk,specifically around Paula Murray's invasive non-story about Dunblane survivors. I shall be considering writing to your advertisers to inquire if they're happy to be associated with this kind of below the gutter journalism' might be interesting.

In other words, since the official watchdog is toothless and can never actually hurt them, you make your own, which can, in the pocket during a severe advertising downturn. It has the added advantage of not being a government censorship scheme - the last thing we want is the Home Office drawing up some kind of licensing scheme for the media, however bad they are - this is Britain, not China. Doing it ourselves makes that less likely, of course.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Damien

They can't get away with this, Where is the Moral outrage from other sectors of the press? Surely the Mail would love to wack the express?

The press, in my experience, tend not to criticise the press..