Yesterday, it was announced that every one of the six men who had been arrested had been released without charge.
Did the Express put this news on the front page? Not quite. Here's page nine of today's paper:
Still can't see it? It's here:
So the Express falsely labels the six men 'Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic terrorists plotting to kill the Pope' on the front page on Saturday, but only mentions they have all been released without charge in one easy-to-miss sentence at the bottom of page nine on Monday.
The Express' owner (Richard Desmond) and editor (Peter Hill) should be ashamed.
(Huge thanks to Daniel Selwood for the pics)
Ashamed? I don't think they know the fucking meaning of the word.
ReplyDeleteStandard practice for all papers that get things wrong, though, isn't it?
ReplyDeletethat's just classic Express. ignorant gits.
ReplyDeleteMust be a lawyer out there prepared to sue this ghastly bit of toilet tissue?
ReplyDeleteMay be standard practice, but one clear reason the PCC isn't fit for purpose and the myth of self-regulation is what allows this crap to happen day in day out. The media need a robust body to sanction them with like-for-like apologies and an ability to impose punitive financial punishments.
I think it's even worse than that. The sentence mentions "police probing a plot in London to attack the Pope", as if the plot is still credible.
ReplyDeleteThey gave away Gummie Bears with the paper. What does this tell us about their readership?
ReplyDeleteIf I were king, the first thing I would do is force all media to give equal billing to corrections as they did to the original story.
ReplyDeleteRemember Forest Gate? Muslim shot and then "kiddy porn"on his computer? Six months later no charges and no apology. New Scotland Yard delenda est.
ReplyDeleteAny normal, decent human being *would* be ashamed - which explains why Desmond, Hill and co feel nothing of the sort.
ReplyDeleteSorry didn't realise Express was considered a newspaper I wonder if the Pope 6 could sue Express for saying they were bogus street cleaners? Have they lost wages? It does seem odd the fuzz raided council depot and nabbed the Pope 6 at work. If you are at work sweeping and employed by council at depot. Hard to see where the bogus claim comes from. But then I'm not a journalist
ReplyDeleteGood work, keep it up. I can assure you they know about this blog and they hate it.
ReplyDeleteout of interest how likely would you be to buy a newspaper where the headline was "Everythings Fine" then the next day "Man Trips Over" followed by "Wind Blows Trees!" just wondered as i'm thinking of launching it . . . . . . . . . the fact is that big dramatic headlines are what sells newspapers, putting "6 Men Turn Out To Be Un-Interesting" wouldn't sell the paper. shock, scandal and sex thats what sells
ReplyDeleteThe Daily Express: bogus newspaper employs bogus journalists to invent bogus stories.
ReplyDeleteYes one expects a retraction to be small but the point here is that it does not retract what they actually said in the story. They said these men were Islamist terrorists and bogus street cleaners who "allegedly" plotted to blow up the Pope. They only retract the allegation that these bogusly street-cleaning terrorists were going to do any such thing. They remain terrorists and the cleaners of bogus streets, in the Express universe.
ReplyDeleteThis is on a par with sister paper The Star when they took the complete piss with thier "setting the story straight" about thier volcanic ash lies! Why is Desmond allowed to get away with such misinformation and often down right lies?
ReplyDeleteI echo the calls for a real body to be set up which forces the press to be more acocuntable for what they print and forces them to apologise when they should be doing so!
They shouldn't be able to hide behind "Freedom of the press". Yes, Free press is brilliant...but not when it's abused like it is here and the papers print lies and celebrity rubbish and clearly have an agenda. They should be forced to print at least 2 named sources for every story and not be allowed to use "annoymous" sources or quotes as they often do.
In the hierarchy of the world's literature, the modern Daily Express ranks slightly below the joke section on a Penguin wrapper.
ReplyDelete"Good work, keep it up. I can assure you they know about this blog and they hate it." - if they can't take it, maybe they shouldn't dish it out in the first place? Good to know the bogus Express are squirming over their bogus journalism though.
ReplyDeleteWhat does one expect from a Press that is too cowardly to correct the Pope when he aligned British non-believers with Hitler and Nazis. Hitler was a Catholic, like most of the country that followed him.
ReplyDeleteThe press are happy to wrongly malign members of the public, but doing something honest and valuable like reminding the Pope that the Vatican supported the Nazis and Fascism during WW2 is beyond them. What a bunch of bastards.
Quite apart from the extreme irresponsibility of the reporting itself, note the word "quizzed" - a classic example of a word that *only* exists in tabloids, never in normal conversation.
ReplyDeleteI will ignore the tabloid apologist here; if the market economy *itself* has to be reformed (or put back into its Butskellite limits) to restore balance and sense to newspapers, then so shall it be. I hope.
I'd quite like to see a set structure over non like for like apologies. After a set structure of warnings, a paper could be stopped from publishing for up to a week.
ReplyDeleteNot only would this have an immediate financial impact, there is every chance their readership would stick with a replacement paper. No idea whether or not this would be enforceable, but I'd imagine it'd promote responsible reporting whilst offering the opportunity for such papers to address inaccurate or imbalanced reporting.
Why do the police release information which can be distorted? Did they have to tell anyone that they made arrests?
ReplyDeleteSeems to me that the police themsleves are colluding in a propaganda war where they want to be seen to be active all the time.
Surely the arrests, if neccessary could be done quietly and simply, investigations made and then released with an apology and an explanion that they have to follow up on information recived. If done with respect and dignity, I am sure we would understand that they have to follow up.
My cousin was arrested in a similar false accusation as an IRA terrorist, but they did it with respect.
The police need to do their job, not promote themselves.
I agree with trampoline man, that the police released an awful lot of information on these arrests far too quickly. By announcing the nationality of the men and where they worked would have gone along way towards identifying them. If they had been part of a plot by releasing this information it would have alerted anybody else involved who could have quickly done a runner. I think it was also Sky news who also first floated the idea that if they are not guilty of plotting to attack the Pope they are probably illegal immigrants anyway.
ReplyDeleteThat being said a good six hours passed from the police arresting these men and the Express publishing it's front page in that time journalists should have been asking more questions to try and stand up the story, instead the staff at the Express took the police statement and spiced it up.
And so goes the conditioning of a nation through media misinformation clearly guided by their own extremist view. This publication was not just intended to cement ingrained bigotry it was also to establish further prejudices in the minds of hapless readers. I'd like to ask why anyone would want to read this facist tripe anyway. I think it's a case of "simple things pleasing simple minds" Well Mr (Richard) Desmond and (Peter) Hill I know what your agenda is and paint doesn't cover the cracks in your brand of perverse extremism. More mediocrity from a tired and exposed meia city.
ReplyDelete