Sunday Express Dunblane controversy
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The Sunday Express Dunblane controversy began after the Scottish edition of the Sunday Express newspaper published a front page article critical of survivors of the Dunblane massacre.
The article, entitled "Anniversary Shame of Dunblane Survivors" [1][2][3][4], criticised the 18-year-old survivors for posting "shocking blogs and photographs of themselves on the Internet", revealing that they drank alcohol, made rude gestures, and talked about their sex lives. The source of this information was the social networking site profiles of the survivors, with Bebo as the only site mentioned by name. The article stated that they had "'shamed' the memory of their dead peers". The article was removed from the Sunday Express' website on the day of publication.
Backlash
The article was criticised by several UK-based bloggers for the perceived attack on survivors for behaviour which was unexceptional in their community, and among teenagers as a whole.[5][6]
Survivors and members of the public complained to the UK Press Complaints Commission [7], although under the PCC rules, only complaints received from those named in the article can be considered. As a result, first the comments functionality on the online version of the article was disabled, then the whole article was removed from the express.co.uk online archive. [8]
A Facebook group called "The Sunday Express is abhorrent" [9] was established to serve as a focal point for online activism designed to win a front-page apology for the article, using actions such as an online petition, complaints to senior Express Group Newspapers staff, and boycotting Express advertisers.
On March 18, comedy writer Graham Linehan, who had previously criticised the article on Twitter, wrote a blog post condemning the actions of the Express [10] and arguing that the story was a new low in tabloid behaviour. Other Twitter users, including writers and comedians with relatively large numbers of followers, discussed the issue on Twitter, driving a rapid expansion of the Facebook group's membership to over 3,000 members.
Criticism of Paula Murray
The journalist who wrote the article, Paula Murray, attracted criticism for the ethics of the article and the journalistic techniques she employed.
The Bloggerheads weblog published a post featuring images and screen captures taken from Murray's Facebook account [11]. Several images showed her drinking wine, including one where she holds a wineglass which was also being held by a baby, captioned "Starting early under the influence of Auntie Paula", while others showed her in Hallowe'en fancy dress as a zombie. The article also compiled status updates where Murray referred to her drinking habits, stating that she had "fallen off the wagon", was "recovering from a night out" and "was legless on Friday".
The post contrasted Murray's condemnation of the Dunblane survivors' "binge drinking" with her own habits, and satirically considered how a tabloid newspaper would construct a story around her Facebook profile.
Controversy over comments made by MSP Elizabeth Smith
The original article quotes Elizabeth Smith, a Member of the Scottish Parliament, who states that "Some of the things that go up on these websites are very unfortunate" and "Some of them are in great bad taste".
In the days following the article's publication, Smith denied that her comments had referred specifically to the Dunblane survivors, suggesting that she had been interviewed only about the general issue of young people using social network sites. [12][13].
However, on the 12th March, Derek Lambie, the Scottish Sunday Express editor, disputed that claim and said that the interview had been taped. The next day, Smith stated that "A satisfactory resolution has now been reached between myself and the [Scottish] Sunday Express and, as a result of that, I have no further comment to make."[14].
Notes
- ^ "Anniversary Shame of Dunblane Survivors" Scottish Sunday Express, 8 March 2009, pages 1 and 7.
- ^ PDF mirror of Scottish Sunday Express cover
- ^ Scan of inside article pages with names and images of survivors redacted
- ^ Redacted plain-text version of article
- ^ "New Low For Express" on "The enemies of reason" weblog
- ^ "The Scottish Express are idiots" on "Crashed Pips"
- ^
"PCC targets Sunday Express over Dunblane allegations". The Guardian. 2009-03-16. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Former URL of the article, with article content removed and with a broken image link
- ^ Facebook group: The Sunday Express is abhorrent
- ^ "The Express Wins The Race To The Bottom" on "Why, That's Delightful!"
- ^ "Paula Murray, drunken hack, mocks dead and makes light of underage drinking"
- ^ Comment on "The enemies of reason"
- ^ Bloggerheads investigation
- ^ Bloggerheads investigation
