Robert Murrat

It's been a few days now since the news that Robert Murrat has accepted £550K in damages from a combination of every British tabloid for the disgraceful stories published about him over the last year or so. And I have spent a few days pondering it. Many bloggers including Obsolete and The Enemies of Reason have welcomed the verdict and indeed the verdict itself must be welcomed. For an ordinary person to win in the libel courts buck a worrying trend whereby the press seem to be able to get away with printing what they want.

However, what are the consequences?

£550K. Between 11 papers. including the Sun, Mirror, Mail and Express. £50k for each of them. That is a piss in the ocean for all of them. It will be of absolutely no consequence. It will be of no deterrent to do it again. The tabloids shifted millions of extra copies over the Madeline McCann affair and continue to do so. The press could do this again and will because they have more to gain then they will ever lose. No one was sacked, no individual was made to stand to account for the damage done to Murat's reputation.

Even now search for him on the daily Mail website and what do you come up with? Not one story about him winning in the libel courts, instead all the smears and lies are dragged up again.

There has been no printed apology in any of these papers, not one, nowhere.

So no consequences for the tabloids, no attempt to put things right in terms of publicly apologising in a form that their readers will see and no deterrent to not do it again.

And yet Murat has allegedly won.

What a total disgrace.

The following is something that I found on Facebook. It expresses some what more eloquantly many of the feelings that I tried to express in an earlier post. You may not like everything it has to say but I personally support every word of it.

Bare in mind that I am a Scout Leader. I love children, I put my heart and soul into trying to make their lives that little bit better. I am just sickened by the way one particular issue has been treated in the media.

As much as everyone is sickened by the fact that a little girl has been kidnapped, I bet that this situation is a newspaper editor’s wet-dream. Everyone is so keen to keep up-to-date on the latest information regarding Madeleine McCann that any paper with her photo on their front page probably boosts sales by a considerable margin. Pretty sick, but probably true.Then there’s the fact that in all the articles we’re told how beautiful she is and how her parents are GPs etc etc. Why the fuck does that matter? Surely the fact that a child has been stolen by a pedophile gang is enough to incite our compassion?I’m told that if I have “any information relating to the case” then I should phone some number to report it, if my information leads to Madeleine’s recovery then I’ll get a million pounds. A million pounds!! Shit. That’s a lot of money. I’m actually quite tempted to call up and say that I saw her somewhere, just on the off chance that it turns out she actually IS there. I’m not really going to call, but it’s a big enough incentive that I can practically guarantee some people will. This mean that as well as wading through the thousands of calls they’re already getting from people thinking they caught a glimpse of Madeleine in John Lewis in Wrexham, the police are having their resources stretched even further by following up bullshit leads from greedy, morally defective pricks. Let the police do their work, don’t drown them with useless information.Another effect this sensationalist media coverage is having is to strike fear into the hearts of young parents at home and abroad. Do you remember when you were a kid and you could stay out and play all day, only going home for dinner when it was too dark to play anymore? Children nowadays won’t remember that; their parents are too scared to let them. The media has made people believe that if you don’t know where your children are, eventually they’ll get raped and probably killed. Yes, sometimes it will happen, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is a VERY RARE crime. Are you going to keep your children inside all day incase they get stolen by a pedo, hit by a car, struck by lightning or blown-up by a terrorist? You can’t live your life in fear of what MIGHT happen. Life’s too shortRight, finally David Beckham’s mumbled plea for her return. What. The. Fuck? On my list of ways not to catch a pedophile, David Beckham asking them to turn themselves in is right at the very top. In what shit-fest of a meeting was that hare-brained scheme hatched?“Well the parent’s emotive request for their return was ignored. What now?”“Well the polls show that people like football”“Excellent! Even rapists like football. Let’s get David Beckham to ask for Madeleine’s return. No one can say no to him”Excellent work media guys. Truly inspired.