The Sunday Express Dunblane Issue

Ok, being someone who has spent a few years working in the media industry and heavily educated in the subject. I can usually see through most of the industries vain attempts to manipulate the ideas and opinions of the masses they are trying to engage.

However, these bunch of fuckwits are exactly what I hate most about the control the newspapers have over their readers.

Recently, The Sunday Express in Scotland ran a front page story entitled 'Anniversary Shame Of Dunblane Survivors'. The story involved journalist (make a note) Paula Murray, writing how the survivors of the tragic Dunblane School Massacre, where 16 children and one teacher were shot dead, were 'boasting about sex and getting drunk'. Apparently, shock horror, now that the survivors have turned 18, they have started drinking, and smoking, and getting tattoos, and swearing, and well... 'being 18' I think the combined phrase. This however was enough to get the Express all up in right royal huff.

But that's not what I'm truly, utterly, and quite frankly dangerously pissed off about. It was the conduct in which the information for this story is gathered.

Some of you may know the term 'libel'. It's a basic law that states what a newspaper can and can't print when it comes to news. One of it's by-laws is that minors are to be kept anonymous. So when Dunblane happened, there was no mention of the names of the dead or survivors in any newspaper. That was until they turned 18, now legally adults, and their identities splashed all over the tabloids.

But it doesn't stop there, the journalist (once again, write it down) Paula Murray managed to get the information by befriending the teens on Facebook. Gaining access to all of their private information and using it to shame a bunch of innocent teenagers who had done nothing wrong except for surviving the worst school massacre this country has ever seen.

Now the Express are doing their best to cover up any evidence to this. They have removed the story from the website and are not answering any direct questions to this article. But what is a giant frustration is that the regulator for newspapers does not accept public complaints. Only if you are in the story itself can you complain.

But this story needs to gain coverage. I'm sick of newspapers making false and untrue claims about peoples personal lives, or writing bias stories to affect the opinion of the reader rather than writing what actually happened. But what has happened here is just plain sick. These poor kids who have had their anonymity, private lives and their dignity ripped from them just because Paula Murray couldn't think of anything else to write about.

If youu want to help expose The Express for what they did, the join the Facebook group here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=55873492636

And if you want any more information on the topic, here's Graham Lineham's blog. He has far info on the subject than me with some handier links: http://whythatsdelightful.wordpress.com/2009/03/18/the-express-wins-the-race-to-the-bottom/

Don't let this get swept under the carpet. Newspapers need to learn to respect people.