British Tabloid Sleaze is Coming to America
Washington Post hired a controversial British publisher as their new CEO. After endless scandals, he needs to go
I remember when I first learned about the full extent of press intrusion in the UK. It was about a decade ago in a lecture on freedom of the press and the right to privacy. I remember it very clearly, sitting there in a lecture hall with my mouth agape, listening to stories about some of the most atrocious violations of privacy that I had ever heard. It somehow didn’t even register to me that it was possible for the press to be so… quite frankly, I still don’t have the words for it.
If you want an example, here’s a particularly nasty one that still makes me feel queasy: in 1990, a television actor from the show ‘Allo ‘Allo was in a car accident and suffered major head injuries. He was in the hospital and on life support. After being taken off life support, he was in intensive care, concussed and heavily sedated. Sunday Sport reporters snuck into the hospital disguised as medical staff to take pictures and interview him while he was lying in the hospital, half-conscious and fighting for his life. They ran the photos and the interview in the paper.
In another instance, a television host was admitted to hospital due to an illness. Very…
