Talk:Richard Desmond

Porn mags

I thought that Northern and Shell sold most of their pornographic magazines to Remnant Media at around the time Desmond was buying the Express, including specifically Asian Babes and Big Ones, the magazines mentioned in the article. There's no mention of this in the article. Cite: [1]. I think Northern and Shell continues to publish Forum, which wasn't part of the deal. -- Karada 09:10, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

NPOV

I think the main issue is this article portrays a sanitised version of Desmond. No mention that he made his fortune in pornography, no mention that his companies have made massive redundancies. Just lots of stuff about his charity work. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.118.251.61 (talk) 15:57, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

I don't know much about this guy, but the first sentence of the article is enough to demonstrate a bias in the current version. The article begins "Richard Clive Desmond (born 8 December 1951) is a British pornographer, current owner of Express Newspapers and founder of Northern and Shell plc." The second half of that sentence shows that he's clearly a media businessman and possibly a journalist as well; but the first half solidly identifies him simply as a pornographer. This bias continues throughout the article, leaving the impression that it's written by somebody who thinks he's a sleazy guy even while they cite arguments to the contrary.

Maybe you shouldn't try to comment on items/people that you admit you know nothing about??? - you ended up saying that there was a bias, yet it turns out that you're wrong, because if you knew anything about the guy, you would know that pornography is what he is known for. Just read The Village Voice article. Stick to commenting on items that you are familiar with. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.143.158.108 (talk) 21:22, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Clearly Desmond is a complex person, and a good article about him would presumably examine and acknowledge this complexity without pre-judgement. Somebody who knows more about Desmond than I do should have a serious look at this. Fang2415 (talk) 10:41, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

First sentence was amended just before you added the NPOV tag. Prior to that it was publisher. Bertcocaine (talk) 13:34, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

I think the "split image" of Richard Desmond arises from the fact that he made his money in pornography (not mainstream publications), and then once having made his money, he used those profits from pornography to try to buy his way into mainstream publishing. I think that can be stated as fact. Now as to whether he did the latter in an attempt to improve his soiled image . . . . well, that's up the reader to form an opinion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.143.159.186 (talk) 08:43, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't think he has a "split image" - I think he is trying to create one, then, once the split image is created, he will try to erase the pornography side of his money. If you enquire in media circles, he is known as a pornographer, period. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.143.158.108 (talk) 21:24, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

I think that line is a perfectly reasonable way of describing Richard Desmond; his portfolio consists of some of the most prominent pornographic magazines and television channels in the United Kingdom. "Pornographer" is not a value judgement, it is his business. If anything, there should be a disagreement with his statement as a "prominent philanthropist" since he isn't that prominent and his philanthropy work is not that well known. It would be fine to say he engages in philanthropy, but he is not a philanthropist. --90.216.166.118 (talk) 20:31, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one article was rated and this bot brought all the other ratings up to at least that level. BetacommandBot 03:39, 28 August 2007 (UTC) this is so biassed, one look at Hugh Hefners entry shows you... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Hefner —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.62.30.178 (talk) 00:13, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

Desmond being Jewish

Please stop removing properly sourced information. A person's race/ethnicity, etc is not irrelevent. Wikipedia has whole categories for British Jews, English Jews, etc, etc. This is common wWikipedia encyclopedic content. I am restoring this info please do not edit war Vexorg (talk) 23:39, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Libel case involving "Private Eye"?

I understand there's been a libel case involving Richard Desmond and Private Eye magazine (no guesses as to who sued whom). Cannot find anything on the internet. Anyone knows if this is true? Cites? -The Gnome (talk) 12:12, 5 February 2011 (UTC)