The unprecedented avalanche of complaints about Jan Moir's Daily Mail article on the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately has led the Press Complaints Commission to set up a special link for complainants.
The link says: "Over the weekend, the PCC received more than 21,000 complaints about the column by Jan Moir published in the Daily Mail on Friday 16th October headlined 'A strange, lonely and troubling death' and (initially) online 'Why there was nothing ‘natural' about Stephen Gately's death', which discussed the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately.
"These complaints follow widespread discussion of the subject on social networking sites - especially Twitter - and represent by far the highest number of complaints ever received about a single article in the history of the Commission.
"The PCC generally requires the involvement of directly-affected parties in its investigations, and it has pro-actively been in touch with representatives of Boyzone - who are in contact with Stephen Gately's family - since shortly after his death. Any complaint from the affected parties will naturally be given precedence by the Commission, in line with its normal procedures.
"If, for whatever reason, those individuals do not wish to make a complaint, the PCC will in any case write to the Daily Mail for its response to the more general complaints from the public before considering whether there are any issues under the Code to pursue.
"As the PCC will not be in a position to engage in direct correspondence with every complainant, it is issuing this statement to make clear what action it will be taking. It will make a further public statement when it has considered the matter."
There is nothing natural about The Mail's silence over one of its star columnists Jan Moir. Indeed, given her vituperative outburst on Friday, I gather she is not exactly a shrinking violet, so erm....where is she?
ReplyDeleteWhat a despicable person Jan Moir is, it is no wonder why many people are no longer reading the mail! She needs to be stuck off, what a vindictive and hurtful load of rubbish; I hope something will be done about this!
ReplyDeleteSTRUCK OFF not stuck off, so angry that a paper could actually print this rubbish I couldn’t type fast enough!
ReplyDeleteI sincerely hope that the Press Complaints Commission take the Daily mail and Jan Moir to task. The column was full of snide innuendo and disparaging of civil partnerships - obviously because of sexual orientation. It is pure prejudice and the PCC should hang its head in shame if it does nothing more than give the Daily mail a soft slap!
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