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Prince Harry 3rd in line to the British throne has been in Las Vegas partying. He picked up some random girls in the hotel invited them to his room and stripped off during a game of strip billiards. Pretty well most people in the Western World know this because they have seen pictures of this on the TMZ website.
But if you read the British newspapers you cannot see these pictures.
The British tabloid newspapers are famed for publishing such photographs but have not published them. A mixture of the importing of European privacy law to Britain and the threat of the Leveson Enquiry into the behaviour and excesses of the British Press following phone hacking scandal is responsible for cowing the press. Leveson is about to report on what new rules and legislation to permanently hobble and shut up the press should be. So papers do not want to 'behave badly' and bring drastic legislation down on themselves.
The airwaves are filled with celebrities praising the new found politeness and deference of British newspapers. I am saddened. We could in the past rely on the British newspapers to 'publish and be damned'. Not publishing truthful relevations to respect the wishes of the rich and powerful was for more corrupt Countries, but we have now joined their sycophantic ranks.
When truth gives way to deference and to the wishes and requirements of those whose wealth and power is already massive you know the roll of newspapers is diminished. We now have more polite newspapers which will be heavily controlled by the celebrities and the Royals through their PR machines. Newspapers that will now follow the lead of the toadying BBC when it comes to reporting the Royals. It seems we will have now sacrificed our previous culture of press freedom with its impolite expectation of truth, vigilance and revelation. And replaced it with a polite culture of deference where we can be sure newspapers will not publish things that will upset the Royal family or other powerful celebrities or politicians.
I was always confident the press freedom in Britain was basically to the benefit of the 60 million people living in Britain informing and protecting them from corruption and PR manipulation. But the new culture of deference is being created specifically to protect the interests of the powerful and the top few hundred celebrities, to protect them and their interests and of course their PR manipulations. In my view, it will inevitably lead to the vast majority of people being kept in the dark to a greater extent and to the rise of deference and greater corruption in Britain.
Depressing.
Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
PS........... I wrote this above earlier today ........ it's now midnight .......... and I see 'The Sun' has recovered its old self........ and published the pictures of naked Prince Harry cavorting on it's front page ............. :-))) ........ Hats off to The Sun.......... the managing editor says its a matter of press freedom...... and so it is....... The Palace has instructed British newspapers not to publish a newsworthy picture .......... And The Sun has correctly declined to be ruled by the Palace in matters of what they decide to publish ........... In a discussion on BBC2's 'News Night' between a previous editor of the Sun Kelvin McKenzie and the current Editor of the Independent......... McKenzie said it was an issue of press freedom...... it was madness that newspapers were in this climate being intimidated into not running what are currently the worlds most news worthy photographs and whats more photographs that are completely available for all to see on on the web ........... and he said "if the Prince third in line to the British throne is photographed drunk and nakedly cavorting at a Party in Vegas and you didn't think that is a story........ What is a story ?" ......... hehehehe......... The Independent Editor bumbled on about privacy and the instructions from the Palace......... blah blah....... Like a civil servant or a lawyer ....... They used to say in their advertising: 'Independent.... it is ..... are you?' Now it seems they just 'toe the line' ...... If the Palace rings and tells them not to publish they don't publish ........... Maybe they should go with the new advertising line....... "Independent just a name ...... Don't worry we do what we are told".
Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXX
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.... The photography and slightly mad life of reportage artist Jez Coulson ....