The Sun apologise for “mental patient” slur! Hell must have frozen over!

In Britain we have a daily newspaper called The Sun.  It’s a tabloid, and what we in Britain call a “red top”.  Red tops tend to appeal to the lowest common denominator.  Every day, page 3 is dominated by a photo of a “page 3 girl”, who will be wearing hardly anything at all and will be exposing her (usually large) boobs.  Bare boobs in a familynewspaper?  Yes, I know, but don’t blame me – I didn’t invent the rules.

On 7 October, the Sun printed a sensationalised story “1,200 killed by mental patients”.   This greatly offended people with mental illnesses, their families, and just about everyone else.  The paper was bombarded with complaints and an online petition on Change.org.

Well, lots of people signed the petition (82,000 according to Rhiannon, a psychology teacher with a family that has a history of mental health illness and who started the petition at Change.org.

She wrote:

Brilliant news! Following public outcry and concern from mental health organisations, today The Sun newspaper printed a correction to their offensive front page headline which read “1,200 killed by mental patients”.

As a psychology teacher with a family that has a history of mental health illness, I was shocked and appalled at The Sun’s coverage of such a sensitive issue.

To my amazement, so were over 82,000 of you! The petition grew stronger and stronger, calling for a correction and donation to a mental health charity.

Last week mental health charities Rethink and Mind met with The Sun to discuss their coverage of mental health issues and responsible journalism. And today they have printed this correction. 

It’s important that this correction doesn’t go unnoticed. Time and again people with mental health issues are stigmatised in the media. It’s vital that when corrections are made, they are made publicly to end the stigma. 

The Sun’s correction reads as follows:

Clarifications and Corrections.

Further to our article “1,200 killed by mental patients” (Oct 7), we would like to make clear that the 1,200 figure related broadly to victims of homicide by people with mental illness.  This encompassed both those who were being actively treated at the time of the offence and those who were subsequently judged to have symptons of mental illness.

The Sun realises that the vast majority of people with mental health problems pose no threat to anybody and are much more likely to take their own life or self-harm  than be a risk to others.  Since our article we have been in communication with charities such as Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, and support their Time to Change initiative.  We will continue campaigning to improve treatment of mental health in the UK.

Not exactly the apology that Change.org have hyped it up to be;  but, as Rhiannon wrote in her recent email, “It’s important that this correction doesn’t go unnoticed. Time and again people with mental health issues are stigmatised in the media. It’s vital that when corrections are made, they are made publicly to end the stigma.”

So yes, it’s an apology, especially when you take into account the fact that it came from the Sun.  Let’s see if their general practices change too.

 

Sign this petition: get those dodgy Murdochs run out of town!

I got an email from Becky Luff at SumOfUs.org. Not much for me to add, so I’ll just repost what she wrote:

Dear Friends,

Rupert Murdoch is “not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company.”

This astounding quote from the House of Commons Select Committee — who have been investigating the role James and Rupert Murdoch played in the phone hacking scandal — has been splashed across the headlines.

But it’s not just Parliamentarians who are concerned by the Murdoch’s activities. Ofcom — the UK body responsible for licensing and regulating public broadcasting — began investigating the Murdoch-controlled BSkyB as a result of the News International phone hacking scandal, in order to assess whether BSkyB remains fit and proper to continue to hold its broadcast license.

Ofcom needs to follow the Select Committee’s lead, and deem Rupert Murdoch unfit to hold a UK broadcasting license. A huge public outcry will help show them they need to act quickly to revoke Murdoch’s BSkyB license, before more damage is done.

Sign our open letter to Ofcom telling it to revoke Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB license.

http://sumofus.org/campaigns/murdoch-ofcom/?sub=taf

Despite BSkyB’s best efforts to distance themselves from the illegal activities of its parent company News Corporation, Ofcom has already made a connection by requesting evidence of phone hacking to include in its BSkyB investigation. With the Select Committee coming out strongly against Murdoch, it’s time for Ofcom to act and revoke Murdoch’s BSkyB license.

According to the Select Committee, the illegal phone hacking was merely a symptom of a much larger problem — a “culture permeated from the top” and one which shows a “lack of effective corporate governance”. A company like this should not be allowed to have a UK broadcasting license.

If Ofcom acts to revoke the license, the Murdochs will be forced out of UK broadcast media. What with this, the deluge of bad press News Corporation is receiving in the UK, and the number of politicians now looking to distance themselves from the family, we have a real chance of getting Murdoch’s biased and corrupt media empire out of the UK for good.

Join us in calling on Ofcom to revoke News Corporation’s broadcasting license of BSkyB.

http://sumofus.org/campaigns/murdoch-ofcom/?sub=taf

————————————————————–

Further reading:

“Murdoch: The damning verdict” – The Independent, May 2012

“Ofcom studies phone-hacking evidence in BSkyB ‘fit and proper’ probe” – The Guardian, May 2012

Do us all a favour. Sign the letter. That Rupert Murdoch’s some piece of work, and you know what they about apples not falling far from the tree.

Did Mrs Murdoch assault the pie-thrower?

Yesterday Jonnie Marbles, the prankster who threw a “foam pie” at Rupert Murdoch as the media magnate gave evidence to a Commons select committee about “phone hacking”, pleaded guilty to assault and “causing harassment, alarm or distress“. I suppose that’s fair enough – but why hasn’t Murdoch’s wife been charged with the same offence? According to the Guardian newspaper, Murdoch’s wife, .”Wendi Deng, leapt to her husband’s defence, first slapping May-Bowles away and then throwing the plate at him as he was led away by police”. Jonnie Marbles was in police custody when she threw the pie, so her action can’t be excused as defending her aged husband. So, if part-time stand-up comedian Jonnie (real name Jonathan May-Bowles) is guilty of assault and harrassment, surely Mrs Murdoch is equally guilty?

Jonnie Marbles is being dealt with as an example, to show the world how seriously Britain takes parliamentary process. The judge in the case, district judge Daphne Wickham, was asked by Marbles’ solicitor if she could change the date when he has to return to court for sentencing as the date she set conflicts with Marbles’ booked family holiday. But she wouldn’t have any of it. Said a warrant would be issued for his arrest if he did not turn up.

She said: “He is on bail for a serious offence which carries a risk of imprisonment.

“It’s due process.

“He should have thought about this on the 19th of July when he committed these offences.”

Judge Daphne is just being stupid here. If throwing a “foam pie” at someone is a crime deserving of imprisonment, the world has gone utterly bonkers. Also, as I just pointed out Mrs Murdoch is guilty of the same crimes, so surely she should be arrested, and have her passport confiscated so she can’t flee back to the USA where she lives. But of course that won’t happen. It’s okay for the Murdochs to hack murder victims’ phones and “assault” people in a Commons committee room; but a mere mortal like Marbles must be treated like an evil fiend.

Luckily, Marbles hasn’t lost his sense of humour. Outside Westminster magistrates court, he said “I would just like to say this has been the most humble day of my life”, the very same comment made by Murdoch when he was giving evidence to the committee.

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Do you want Rupert Murdoch to rule the world?

If, like me, you don’t want Australian-born tax-dodger Rupert Murdoch to take over the world, like the baddie from some appalling James Bond movie, sign this petition today! Or before Friday 31 December anyway, as that’s when the petition will be presented to the government.

It’s true that the petition may have no effect – chances are “Dave” Cameron will use it as toilet paper to wipe his fat complacent arse. But it might generate a little more public awareness of what damage Murdoch has inflicted on media in the USA, and how he will be able to do the same kind of crap in the UK unless we do something about it.

So take a precious minute or two to click on that link (here it is again, in case you can’t be bothered to scroll back up again), fill in the appropriate boxes and hit (or , or whatever the stupid button is labelled. Go on, make a horrible man feel a little more hated this new year!

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