Premature Articulation.
Illustration from the incomparable Nick Dewar RIP February 2010.
We have imported many trends from America; none so misunderstood as the ‘Free Speech’ trumps all other rights. I would hazard a guess that ‘free speech’ is probably the most quoted phrase in the blogosphere.
‘Speech’ is the power of oral communication. Oral. By mouth. Yet it is freely translated as the right to imprint the Blogosphere with a permanent written record of your thoughts.
The main stream media are terrified of the Blogosphere, they see their advertisers leaking away by the day, and the only way they can keep up their viewing figures is by implanting their ‘news’ with words that are commonly searched for on-line. Wikileaks. Angelina Jolie. Madeleine McCann. Cheryl Cole. Gordon Brown. Banker’s Bonus. Newsrooms are driven by the need to find stories to fit round these keywords. Editors no longer look at the world news and make a professional judgement as to the order of the news. They peer at keywords. Consult SEO experts.
Thus they have found themselves consumed, the past few days, chasing stories concerning the murder of Joanna Yeates. Just Joanna Yeates. The ‘keyword’ Joanna Yeates. Not the other two dozen unsolved murders in the same area.
Having selected a suitable corpse – not quite the pulling power of a dead Princess, nor the winsomeness of a missing Madeleine, but blonde and young, (looking promising), they still need a reason to insert those other SEO magic words.
In order of importance, these appear to be ‘paedophile’, ‘religious’, ‘weird’, ‘gay’, pornography, anything French related, private education, and the highly suspect Lib-Dems.
In the rush for ‘keyword Bingo’, the Daily Mail achieved high scores.
Paedophilia:
A teacher who used to live in Joanna Yeates flat was jailed for sexually abusing a pupil there. Stephen Johnson taught French at Clifton College where murder suspect Jefferies also worked.
Religion:
Mr Jefferies was four years ago appointed the chairman of the Bath and Avon Prayer Book Society, which promotes the continued use of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
Weird:
So liberally sprinkled around that it is impossible to isolate specific uses.
Gay:
‘He was a very private individual. He was notorious for his odd hairstyle, it was often poetically long, and definitely had a blue tinge.
‘Mr Jefferies was also famous for his utter dislike of sports. At boarding schools everyone has to chip in and teachers would often referee rugby or football matches, but not him.
‘Mr Jefferies was a bachelor, he never spoke about girls and I never saw him with any, but likewise there was no suggestion he was homosexual as people have suggested.’ (‘People’ – including the Daily Mail!)
Pornography:
Ticked that one with earlier reference to Stephen Johnson, who used to show pornography to the boys at the college……
French related:
Got that one with the earlier gratuitous reference to Stephen Johnson – French teacher natch.
Private Education:
Clifton College…can’t believe our luck. This SEO business is a doddle.
Lib-Dems:
Line them up on the bar lads, I’m there. Got it.
‘Campaigning for the Liberal Democrats’.
Does it matter if the Daily Mail – why single them out? – and every other national newspaper – is playing an incautious game of ‘round the rules of contempt of Court we go’?
Yes, it does.
Ironically, if the police have sufficient evidence to charge Mr Jefferies (currently released on bail with no charges) with any crime, he will then enjoy greater protection from the rush to sully his reputation by innuendo and association. Whilst completely innocent in legal terms he is at the mercy of every SEO expert in every newspaper office.
Following their example, the on-line world of dubious forums has burst into life once more. The ghouls who delight in tormenting the families of the deceased, the missing, the raped, and the sexually exploited are competing with each other to come up with the most outlandish theories; half digested innuendo from the newspaper files is rehashed as fact. Photographs photoshopped.
The armchair Agatha Christie’s who were growing bored with discussing the finer details of Hollie Greig’s alleged sexual history, or debating their unshakeable belief that the McCann’s murdered Madeleine, or whether Stuart Lubbock was drugged before or after he was anally raped, or Lee Balkwell really died in a cement mixer – have found a new lease of life.
They have the family of Joanna Yeates to torment. Just one of two dozen people murdered in the area, but the one selected by the main stream media for their infotainment.
And all the innuendo, all the gossip, all the revolting suggestions, all the ‘facts’ and the ‘troof’ will be left on-line for future generations to discover when they Google Chris Jefferies name.
Even if he turns out to be totally innocent.
The right to ‘Free Speech’ has become the right for every nonentity to leave a written record of their every obscene thought for all eternity. They can no longer wait for a man to be found guilty, this is the age of instant gratification.
And premature articulation of lurid slurs.
January 4, 2011 at 13:46
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Improvement can only come when there is a self realisation of what they are
doing is in fact morally wrong and inappropriate; but for some these are the
very reasons they go about their poisonous campaign.
It happened with the Madeleine McCann case, sooner or later actual facts
are discarded in favour of rumour born on the internet which over time becomes
established “fact” by those who want the truth obscured in favour of their
“troof”.
The more outlandish the claim or speculation the better it has of rooting
in their twisted consciousness and they offer it up as fact with which to
judge others by.
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January 3, 2011 at 20:27
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Well said!
Don’t anticipate any improvement, tho’ …..
- January 3, 2011 at 20:19
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Another good article Anna laying things out so they can be realised
- January 3, 2011 at 17:47
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Anna,
Once again we are reminded why we missed you during your recent
period of contemplation. God bless you and yours, and a Happy New Year to
all.
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January 3, 2011 at 14:58
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(Is my freudian slip showing)
“Even if he turns out to be totally innocent.”
[reply]
…which (as
yet) he doesn’t have to prove to anyone.
I’ve been thinking about this. There is a distinction, subtle, but worth
making. Sion Jenkins’ conviction for the murder of his step-daughter Billie-Jo
was overturned and he is an innocent man, fully entitled to the assumption of
innocence, even though Billie-Jo’s true murderer has never been
apprehended.
Colin Stagg was not assumed, but *proved*, innocent by the conviction of
Rachel Nickell’s true murderer.
- January 3, 2011 at 16:17
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Yes, I think that’s a fair, and very human distinction.
The process of
law demands clear status: innocence or guilt. But our minds (at least to my
limited knowledge!) rarely conform to such absolute terms. Questions hang,
and we sustain many subtle shades of doubt and suspicion.
- January 3, 2011 at 13:37
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“Even if he turns out to be totally innocent.”
…which (as yet) he doesn’t have to prove to anyone.
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January 3, 2011 at 12:07
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“Weird:
So liberally sprinkled around that it is impossible to isolate specific
uses.”
But, but, but Anna. I’ve long considered absolutely anyone who doesn’t look
remotely like me to be ‘weird’. And I’ve yet to meet a woman who looks
anything like me. Do you mean I’ve been getting it wrong all these years?
Excellent article, by the way.
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January 3, 2011 at 11:34
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High class.
Absolutely tip top article.
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January 3, 2011 at 10:36
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Living so close to Clifton this case is the sole subject of conversation,
never mind the attrition rate in nearby St Pauls. Beggar Bush Lane is
regularly crowded with ‘sight seeing’ people. The media have seven satellite
vans outside the house and a swarm of freelance photographers hanging on the
fence.
The cross over between ‘telly’ murders and real life is sickening, ‘what I
want to know is what happened to the pizza’ was one phrase recently heard. Why
do you want to know ? This is not the Midsomer murders with a convienient list
of obvious suspects. If I hear Nigel Pargitter fall off the roof one more time
this morning I will lose reason.
Never mind ‘All the world’s a stage’ , all the world’s a bloody soap opera
at present.
Innocent until proved guilty is just being ignored
- January 3, 2011 at 10:31
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Since everyone is on holiday, there isn’t much news going around, and in
their defence the media have to fill the void with something.
I would wonder what kind of sick individual would google Gordon Brown these
days. If I never heard a word about him ever again I would know all I ever
wanted about him.
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January 3, 2011 at 09:53
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I agree that were the gentleman concerned to be charged the coverage of the
case has been close to such as would prejudice a fair trial. Mind you, twitter
was going mad about it – a problem of the internet age?
- January 3,
2011 at 07:14
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The ‘Heresy Corner’ blog had a rather amusing take on this case.
- January 3,
2011 at 07:12
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“Does it matter if the Daily Mail – why single them out? – and every
other national newspaper – is playing an incautious game of ‘round the rules
of contempt of Court we go’?”
Pity the poor ‘Telegraph’. The ‘Mail’s’ snaffling of the scoops left them
leading, a few days ago, with the breathtaking revelation that the main
suspect helped her boyfriend start his car! Clearly a sign of…. well,
something.
Closer examination of the article under the headline showed, however, that
he didn’t actually do that. He asked another neighbour, who had a set of jump
leads.
Not sure exactly where that falls in the ‘means, motive and
opportunity’ clue map.
- January 3, 2011 at 06:39
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Well, you won’t get so many hits now… you have spelt her name incorrectly.
Nice try though, especially covering all the ground you accuse others of
doing.
- January 3, 2011 at 07:09
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Mea culpa! Thank you sharp eyes.
I think you are somewhat
missing the point of what is going on in newsrooms – though I accept your
point that in commenting on it one is of course adding to the weight of
information that Google is busy collating. The MSM are adept at dropping
hints into their pieces, that are then carried away as facts apparently
supported by an ex-pupil saying ‘we thought ‘e was a poofter’ – which
generations of school boys have claimed about every unmarried school
teacher, without it being repeated as 237,000 hits for ‘XXX’ is
gay……….
Had the newsrooms stuck to the old rubric of name, profession and
age, there would not be the intense and unforgiveable speculation that is
going on in the forums. Yes, those with local knowledge would have been
discussing the case in the pubs, but there would have been no permanent
record of those conversations.
It is very unfair on anyone who is taken
‘in for questioning’; the police follow many lines of inquiry, some of them
totally erroneous. To have your life torn apart merely for being eccentric
and coming under the gaze of the inquiry team in order to keep the MSM media
alive with hits to satisify their advertisers is a more than unfortunate
by-product of the demise of printed news.
If the man is guilty, there
will be years of imprisonment during which the newsteams can tear his
reputation to shreds. Its a matter of timing……..
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January 3, 2011 at 07:49
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Glad to be of service.. I do get your point. When I was trained as a
journalist many years ago, we were taught as part of our law module that
we could not report anything that could prejudice a trial. The onus then
was to gather as much information and “background” as we could and hope
that we could print it before charges were brought, which was the cut off
point for reporting that material, but we still had to be careful. As for
your paradox/dichotomy on commenting on speculation – sorry if my comment
seemed sarky, but don’t we all know that the Mail et al only want to
report on any particular case from their own prejudiced viewpoint, whether
it’s murder (it must be the perverts!/or the eccentrics!) or politics
(it’s pc/health ‘n’ safety gone mad)?
- January 3, 2011 at
08:07
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“don’t we all know that the Mail et al only want to report on any
particular case from their own prejudiced viewpoint”
Indeed – as do
the Guardian -”as a result of the coalition cuts”; the Telegraph – “as a
result of Murdoch’s stranglehold on news distribution” etc,
etc………
One thing the on-line distrbution of news has done is make it
easier for everyone to read more than one newspaper!
- January 3, 2011 at 09:43
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Sorry – another mis-spelling: Lee Balkwell, victim. Or Les
Balkwell, father of victim.
Which doesn’t, of course, take anything
away from the general thrust of your post.
- January 3, 2011 at 09:46
- January 3, 2011 at 21:46
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One thing the on-line distrbution of news has done is make it
easier for everyone to read more than one newspaper!
Indeed.
Not sure why you missed the worst one out?
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