two sheds
Least noticed poster 2007
Do you have to specify the particular paragraph of the the code which you feel has been broken? You'd imagine a complaint is a complaint and they should decide whether it meets any of their paragraphs.
Mail: a truly despicable article ("nothing 'natural' about Stephen Gately's death")
- Thread starter Badger Kitten
- Start date
Do you have to specify the particular paragraph of the the code which you feel has been broken? You'd imagine a complaint is a complaint and they should decide whether it meets any of their paragraphs.
Badger Kitten
oof
http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2009/10/19/how-organised-was-the-jan-moir-campaign/
here you go, urban's chance to put record straight - get in touch and explain about how the campaign was 'organised', 5t3lla and Trashy
here you go, urban's chance to put record straight - get in touch and explain about how the campaign was 'organised', 5t3lla and Trashy
quimcunx
imprimeo, lamino, distribuo
They ask you to detail your complaint then ask you which codes you think they have broken.
I'm getting quite annoyed now that the PCC is wholly populated by the people it is meant to regulate.
claphamboy
The wheels on the bus go round and round....
Just sorting the hosting out now, I'll will PM Stella with a working link to stick up on Facebook in a mo. 
Badger Kitten
oof
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=44486&c=1
an Moir's column on Stephen Gately is PCC's most complained about article ever
19 October 2009
By Dominic Ponsford
Jan Moir’s column questioning the circumstances around the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately has now become the most complained about story in the history of the Press Complaints Commission.
It has so far attracted more than 21,000 complaints.
It is likely to be dealt with under clause five of the Editors’ Code of Practice which states: "In cases involving personal grief or shock, enquiries and approaches must be made with sympathy and discretion and publication handled sensitively."
Press Gazette asked the PCC this morning whether it could deal with a clause three complaint made by third parties, or whether it would need the involvement of the Gately family.
A spokesman said: "The commission will need to consider that. Intrusion into grief or shock to some extent requires the involvement of those expressing the grief."
The Moir column was published on Friday and has been accused of being disrespectful, appearing is it did on the eve on Gately’s funeral, and of casting aspersions over the singer's homosexual lifestyle.
Gately apparently died of natural causes at his home in Majorca last week.
Moir wrote: "The sugar coating on this fatality is so saccharine-thick that it obscures whatever bitter truth lies beneath. Healthy and fit 33-year-old men do not just climb into their pyjamas and go to sleep on the sofa, never to wake up again. Whatever the cause of death is, it is not, by any yardstick, a natural one."
She also wrote: "under the carapace of glittering, hedonistic celebrity, the ooze of a very different and more dangerous lifestyle has seeped out for all to see".
On Friday, Moir issued a statement saying: "Some people, particularly in the gay community, have been upset by my article about the sad death of Boyzone member Stephen Gately. This was never my intention. Stephen, as I pointed out in the article was a charming and sweet man who entertained millions.
"However, the point of my column-which, I wonder how many of the people complaining have fully read - was to suggest that, in my honest opinion, his death raises many unanswered questions. That was all.
"Yes, anyone can die at anytime of anything. However, it seems unlikely to me that what took place in the hours immediately preceding Gately’s death - out all evening at a nightclub, taking illegal substances, bringing a stranger back to the flat, getting intimate with that stranger - did not have a bearing on his death. At the very least, it could have exacerbated an underlying medical condition.
"The entire matter of his sudden death seemed to have been handled with undue haste when lessons could have been learned. On this subject, one very important point. When I wrote that ‘he would want to set an example to any impressionable young men who may want to emulate what they might see as his glamorous routine’, I was referring to the drugs and the casual invitation extended to a stranger. Not to the fact of his homosexuality.
"In writing that ‘it strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships’ I was suggesting that civil partnerships - the introduction of which I am on the record in supporting - have proved just to be as problematic as marriages.
"In what is clearly a heavily orchestrated internet campaign I think it is mischievous in the extreme to suggest that my article has homophobic and bigoted undertones."
an Moir's column on Stephen Gately is PCC's most complained about article ever
19 October 2009
By Dominic Ponsford
Jan Moir’s column questioning the circumstances around the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately has now become the most complained about story in the history of the Press Complaints Commission.
It has so far attracted more than 21,000 complaints.
It is likely to be dealt with under clause five of the Editors’ Code of Practice which states: "In cases involving personal grief or shock, enquiries and approaches must be made with sympathy and discretion and publication handled sensitively."
Press Gazette asked the PCC this morning whether it could deal with a clause three complaint made by third parties, or whether it would need the involvement of the Gately family.
A spokesman said: "The commission will need to consider that. Intrusion into grief or shock to some extent requires the involvement of those expressing the grief."
The Moir column was published on Friday and has been accused of being disrespectful, appearing is it did on the eve on Gately’s funeral, and of casting aspersions over the singer's homosexual lifestyle.
Gately apparently died of natural causes at his home in Majorca last week.
Moir wrote: "The sugar coating on this fatality is so saccharine-thick that it obscures whatever bitter truth lies beneath. Healthy and fit 33-year-old men do not just climb into their pyjamas and go to sleep on the sofa, never to wake up again. Whatever the cause of death is, it is not, by any yardstick, a natural one."
She also wrote: "under the carapace of glittering, hedonistic celebrity, the ooze of a very different and more dangerous lifestyle has seeped out for all to see".
On Friday, Moir issued a statement saying: "Some people, particularly in the gay community, have been upset by my article about the sad death of Boyzone member Stephen Gately. This was never my intention. Stephen, as I pointed out in the article was a charming and sweet man who entertained millions.
"However, the point of my column-which, I wonder how many of the people complaining have fully read - was to suggest that, in my honest opinion, his death raises many unanswered questions. That was all.
"Yes, anyone can die at anytime of anything. However, it seems unlikely to me that what took place in the hours immediately preceding Gately’s death - out all evening at a nightclub, taking illegal substances, bringing a stranger back to the flat, getting intimate with that stranger - did not have a bearing on his death. At the very least, it could have exacerbated an underlying medical condition.
"The entire matter of his sudden death seemed to have been handled with undue haste when lessons could have been learned. On this subject, one very important point. When I wrote that ‘he would want to set an example to any impressionable young men who may want to emulate what they might see as his glamorous routine’, I was referring to the drugs and the casual invitation extended to a stranger. Not to the fact of his homosexuality.
"In writing that ‘it strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships’ I was suggesting that civil partnerships - the introduction of which I am on the record in supporting - have proved just to be as problematic as marriages.
"In what is clearly a heavily orchestrated internet campaign I think it is mischievous in the extreme to suggest that my article has homophobic and bigoted undertones."
trashpony
Hag
Just sorting the hosting out now, I'll will PM Stella with a working link to stick up on Facebook in a mo.
Cheers - can you send to me too as I appear to have a bit of time this am
I have updated the home page of the group with the info from Mark Pack's blog and asked everyone to complain again.
I agree that it is absurd that unless you stick to their bizarre and arcane rules (which they don't publicise) they reject your complaint.
Why is there not an Ofcom for published media?????
Ooh BK - am on the case
temper_tantrum
The beauty of the ride
Some of the campaign organisers might like to try and interest Media Guardian in this issue about the PCC and the code, with regard to the Moir case? While it's still a hot topic. Would make a good follow-up. 'PCC rejection of Moir complaints demonstrates ineffectiveness of newspapers' self-regulation system' or similar.
(Have they actually rejected the complaints, or just sent out a pro-forma? I've only had a pro forma)
(Have they actually rejected the complaints, or just sent out a pro-forma? I've only had a pro forma)
Boris Sprinkler
Dont be scared
has anyone burnt the witch yet? Or at least put her windows through?
Wow, this is incredible. I take back everything I said about this being a win for the Mail. For them to have two of their columnists diss Moir is an admission of defeat. They are hoping this will take the sting out of the campaign.
So I hope you all can find a way to ratchet up the pressure on Dacre. As Matthew Norman in the Indy says, this is a running story: Given the challenge of imagining a swift surrender from the paper's mannerly editor, Paul Dacre, I suspect we may be obliged to return to the matter next week.
BK, someone will flush you out. You might as well write your own piece about how you did it.
So I hope you all can find a way to ratchet up the pressure on Dacre. As Matthew Norman in the Indy says, this is a running story: Given the challenge of imagining a swift surrender from the paper's mannerly editor, Paul Dacre, I suspect we may be obliged to return to the matter next week.
BK, someone will flush you out. You might as well write your own piece about how you did it.
pinkmonkey
2.4 hour party person
Now, now, don't stoop to her level. I think when it descends into playground name calling (calling her a fat bitch, for example), it's hard to take a campaign seriously. And we want to be taken seriously, don't we?
I think what she said was foul, but at the same time I'm not going to judge her on her looks or weight. (Like the Daily Mail does, funnily enough).
Signed. A Real Woman. *sigh*
That's how you lose all public support and criminalize yourself, just like SHAC. I hope you were joking. Eventually a national paper will do a story about this thread, so you might want to do an edit.
stethoscope
Well-Known Member
Tbh, the Fail has put the boot into this site before anyway - if I recall it regards urb as an "anarchist site" (cue: Middle-England horror!)
quimcunx
imprimeo, lamino, distribuo
I agree. I think we need to move to the Daily Mail's general attitude and the PCC's cronyism and ineffectiveness. Neither are acceptable.
trashpony
Hag
Yeah that's a good point - I was thinking about that earlier. As far as I know, people have just had pro formas.
editor
hiraethified
My favourite was:
"a Wolfie Smith website" (Richard Littlejohn, Daily Mail), "a website run by anarchists" (The Sun) and an "extremist anarchist site" (Sunday People).
Boris Sprinkler
Dont be scared
err. yes, sorry if I didn't make that clear.Badger Kitten
oof
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/19/jan-moir-complain-stephen-gately
Jan Moir: more than 21,000 complain to PCC over Stephen Gately piece
More complaints in a single weekend over Jan Moir article than the regulator has had in the past five years
The Press Complaints Commission has received 21,000 complaints about Jan Moir's article about Stephen Gately since Friday – more complaints in a single weekend than the regulator has received in total in the past five years.
Moir's article,published the day before Gately's funeral in Dublin, provoked widespread outrage on the web. The original headline on the Mail Online website, "Why there was nothing 'natural' about Stephen Gately's death" was later amended to the print edition headline "A strange, lonely and troubling death". The article has also prompted a complaint to the Metropolitan police.
The Press Complaints Commission will shortly decide if it will waive its tendency not to investigate third-party complaints due to the unprecedented number of people who have been in contact about the article by Moir, which said Gately's death in Mallorca after a night out "strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships".
It is understood that the PCC will be mindful of the attitudes of Gately's family and partner.
"They appear to be individually written complaints," a source said. The PCC has had no formal contact with the Daily Mail over the incident, the source added.
The PCC rarely investigates complaints not made by people directly involved in articles, unless they are complaints about accuracy. The regulator did last year investigate third-party complaints about press coverage of Alfie Patten after the Sun falsely reported that Patten had fathered a child aged 13, although it eventually dropped its inquiries.
In this case the PCC could launch an investigation to see if Moir's article violated parts of its code that deals with intrusion into grief, accuracy, discrimination and homophobia.
Paul Dacre, the Daily Mail editor, is chairman of the PCC code committee, which oversees the commission's code of practice that all journalists and newspapers are expected to abide by.
Moir also called for "the truth" to emerge "about the exact circumstances of his strange and lonely death" and said "Once again, under the carapace of glittering, hedonistic celebrity, the ooze of a very different and more dangerous lifestyle has seeped out for all to see".
Today the Daily Mail ran a small article on page 4 about the controversy, saying it had dominated internet debate.
"Columnist Jan Moir's comments on the singer's shocking death sparked an extraordinary online response using sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Thousands have been moved to comment on Moir's column after she wrote in last Friday's paper about the circumstances surrounding the star's death in Majorca, when he and his civil partner invited a Bulgarian man to their flat," the Daily Mail article said.
On Friday advertisers including Marks & Spencer demanded that their advertising be removed from the website page on which Moir's piece was published, although Mail Online had already taken the decision to remove banner ads.
Moir, who has won a British Press Award, made a statement defending her column late on Friday, saying it was not her intention to offend, blaming a "heavily orchestrated internet campaign" for the furore and adding that it was "mischievous in the extreme to suggest that my article has homophobic and bigoted undertones".
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.
• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
Jan Moir: more than 21,000 complain to PCC over Stephen Gately piece
More complaints in a single weekend over Jan Moir article than the regulator has had in the past five years
The Press Complaints Commission has received 21,000 complaints about Jan Moir's article about Stephen Gately since Friday – more complaints in a single weekend than the regulator has received in total in the past five years.
Moir's article,published the day before Gately's funeral in Dublin, provoked widespread outrage on the web. The original headline on the Mail Online website, "Why there was nothing 'natural' about Stephen Gately's death" was later amended to the print edition headline "A strange, lonely and troubling death". The article has also prompted a complaint to the Metropolitan police.
The Press Complaints Commission will shortly decide if it will waive its tendency not to investigate third-party complaints due to the unprecedented number of people who have been in contact about the article by Moir, which said Gately's death in Mallorca after a night out "strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships".
It is understood that the PCC will be mindful of the attitudes of Gately's family and partner.
"They appear to be individually written complaints," a source said. The PCC has had no formal contact with the Daily Mail over the incident, the source added.
The PCC rarely investigates complaints not made by people directly involved in articles, unless they are complaints about accuracy. The regulator did last year investigate third-party complaints about press coverage of Alfie Patten after the Sun falsely reported that Patten had fathered a child aged 13, although it eventually dropped its inquiries.
In this case the PCC could launch an investigation to see if Moir's article violated parts of its code that deals with intrusion into grief, accuracy, discrimination and homophobia.
Paul Dacre, the Daily Mail editor, is chairman of the PCC code committee, which oversees the commission's code of practice that all journalists and newspapers are expected to abide by.
Moir also called for "the truth" to emerge "about the exact circumstances of his strange and lonely death" and said "Once again, under the carapace of glittering, hedonistic celebrity, the ooze of a very different and more dangerous lifestyle has seeped out for all to see".
Today the Daily Mail ran a small article on page 4 about the controversy, saying it had dominated internet debate.
"Columnist Jan Moir's comments on the singer's shocking death sparked an extraordinary online response using sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Thousands have been moved to comment on Moir's column after she wrote in last Friday's paper about the circumstances surrounding the star's death in Majorca, when he and his civil partner invited a Bulgarian man to their flat," the Daily Mail article said.
On Friday advertisers including Marks & Spencer demanded that their advertising be removed from the website page on which Moir's piece was published, although Mail Online had already taken the decision to remove banner ads.
Moir, who has won a British Press Award, made a statement defending her column late on Friday, saying it was not her intention to offend, blaming a "heavily orchestrated internet campaign" for the furore and adding that it was "mischievous in the extreme to suggest that my article has homophobic and bigoted undertones".
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.
• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
temper_tantrum
The beauty of the ride
Wow. 21,000. That's a lot of pissed-off people.
claphamboy
The wheels on the bus go round and round....
The number of complaints to the BBC about Ross & Brand reached 37,500* between 18th & 30th Oct 2008, so 21,000 to the PCC in just a few days is truly amazing!
* source
Badger Kitten
oof
stethoscope
Well-Known Member
Xes: I don't think that sort of stuff is going to help IMO.
kyser_soze
Hawking's Angry Eyebrow
I don't think it really makes an arses worth of difference. I realise that journos are lazy to the point of being made to breath, but any journo can easily get a user account, login and see everything that's on this website - there's way, way more stuff about the Hate elsewhere on Urban that could be seen as less than helpful...
Strumpet
gypsy girl
London_Calling
Pleasant and unpatronising
It's juvenile, puerile and counter-productive.
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