Christopher Jefferies. Hope I Am Never A Murder Suspect!

[highlandsflyer]

Watching the Media Ethics Enquiry, and am minded to just how bad things can get for an innocent person suspected of a crime in this media age.

This poor chap had his whole life trashed by the likes of the Sun. They were all at it; drawing all sorts of conclusions about him mainly based on his appearance and background as an academic.

Note to self. Live a completely grey life, do nothing out of the ordinary, dress like John Major and eat ready meals. Burn all my rubbish.

Just in case a body turns up somewhere near my house. Another one.

Alternatively, can we restrict the media enough to allow the police to go about their business and let suspects remain relatively anonymous until investigations are concluded? Probably not practical where a body is not found and a case remains open. Worth further consideration though.

 

[orange71]

I've never understood why people don't get anonymity until proven guilty :?

 

[sylus]

it does seem we can protect and hide those under a certian age even though they have been found guilty but seem unwilling to protect the innocent just because they are above a certian age

I would be in favour of a law banning media naming and shaming at least until they had sufficient evidence to take the thing to court

 

[1duck]

I'm just waiting for them to witch hunt me when one of my tennants dies, then i'll start doing weird things like digging holes at 3 in the morning but only if the reporters are watching.

Huge payout when it turns out i didn't do it? yes please.

 

[Easy_Rider]

The same happened to the nurse who was questioned about the saline tampering. Her life will never be the same.
I remember the French were shocked to see pictures the ex IMF boss in handcuffs so early in the investigations as I believe there are rules in France regarding publishing photos of suspects very early on. The French also don't have an appetite for the sort of stuff that's printed in our gutter press.
I'm sure someone can tell me the media rules there, I would like to know.

 

[1duck]

What i want to know is why we get severely censored news about say the royal family or pseudo celebrities whilst normal people have zero protection.

I remember the story a few years ago about prince charles that was reported everywhere in the world, but not in britain...a quick google could bring up the results from thousands of sites but yet the british press weren't allowed to report the story.

 

[Neil]

What i want to know is why we get severely censored news about say the royal family or pseudo celebrities whilst normal people have zero protection.

Injunctions, super injunctions or Faustian pacts.

I remember the story a few years ago about prince charles that was reported everywhere in the world, but not in britain...a quick google could bring up the results from thousands of sites but yet the british press weren't allowed to report the story.

Was it family related?

I guess all the relates to the super injunction / privacy debate / thread that occurred on here a while back. Most enforced privacy (beyond family court, or information on minors) is largely served to those that can afford it - whereas those that should surely deserve privacy, until proved otherwise, don't get it. Not least of all that can be a bad thing in terms of sub judice.

 

[petitpal]

Just round up the likes of Piers Morgan and shoot then. Problem solved. Sorry, I allow very few things in life to annoy me (never worth it) but that scumbag drives me livid. Made a career out of hounding people to within an inch of their lives - until it happened to him and then suddenly he's Mr Nice guy, "ooooh I didn't realise I might have been upsetting people".

Ultimately though, guys and gals, this is down to the Great British public. If we keep buying the crappy papers that print this trash and that hound 'celebs' nearly to death then they'll keep doing it.

Remember my dad telling me something along these lines when I was young: if an American sees someone driving down the street in a Cadillac they'll say, "how can I get one of those?" - a British person will say, "how can I take that away from them".

Don't know how true that is, but the behaviour of the media is sort of an extension - not satisifed to see people doing well for themselves, they have to pull them down and crush them.

 

[tintin40]

I've never understood why people don't get anonymity until proven guilty :?

Agree. The media never learn. Just pay fines & compensation and carry on till the next poor sod who is innocent

 

[Drencrom]

I've never understood why people don't get anonymity until proven guilty :?

I've never understood why people buy tabloids.