Thoughts on politics and life from a liberal perspective

Friday 16 October 2009

Jan Moir and The Daily Mail vs Twitter and the Blogosphere

I'm on holiday at the moment and have just dipped briefly into the blogs and Twitter again before heading out for the evening but I have been disgusted by Jan Moir's horrible, hate filled smear against Stephen Gately of Boyzone (I'm not linking to it) full of innuendo about his death which she has tried to relate to the fact he was homosexual.

However at the same time, I have been heartened to see the number of people on Twitter and across the blogosphere, literally from all corners, Tory, Labour, Lib Dem and others all expressing their disgust at Moir's article and at The Mail for publishing it. Apparently the pressure has been so intense that the advertisers have asked for their adverts to be removed from the online page where the article sits.

I am also heartened by the number of comments below the article itself (500+ at last count) expressing their disgust with it. It means that they cannot fail to hear the message.

The Mail has recent form for this sort of thing. They have to understand how reviled they are making themselves by publishing stuff like this. Hopefully the reactions they have had to this and other recent examples will start to have an effect on their editorial policy.

5 comments:

Constantly Furious said...

Bizarrely, this really has cut across party lines. I find myself in agreement with Alastair Campbell, for fucks sake..

Dippyness. said...

It's people power at it's best. Jan Moir & the Mail seem to believe the complaints have somehow been organised. No doubt hoping their readers will swallow this line of defense.
I would not be surprised if The Mail print an apology for the article.
However, if should be remembered Jan Moir isn't the only guilty party. Whoever allowed this article to be published is equally to blame.

Metrodeco said...

This morning Brighton's Nikki Bayley (@nikkib on Twitter) made one of the first complaints in the country about the Daily Mail's vile columnist Jan Moir and here cowardly homophobic attack on Stephen Gately. Here's the Press Complaints Commission's response http://tiny.cc/aPipa

Cardinal Richelieu's mole said...

Infotainment industry scum behaving like scum. Who would have thought they could be checked. Technology is a wonderful thing. :-)

Hussy said...

jan moir has started a penance blog. ccould you put a link in?

http://jan-moir-daily-mail.tumblr.com/

Thanks