Posted by: RFM on: October 17, 2009
You may have developed some awareness of the latest pitchfork-wielding Twitter flashmob. A homophobic column in the Daily Mail by Jan Moir has been greeted with upset and outrage all around. I won’t dignify her article with a link. After all, homophobia (and sexist double standards) are par for the course for the Daily Mail, [...]
Posted by: RFM on: April 29, 2009
They either take a long time investigating these things, or they’ve got a really slow calculator.
The interesting thing here is that not a single one of these complaints was upheld by the ASA. One was withdrawn by the company concerned when they heard about the complaint.
Some of the complaints did seem preposterous, but I wonder [...]
Posted by: RFM on: April 22, 2009
Even if you’ve read Flat Earth News, this is a shocking story. Nick Davies, the journalist who exposed the poor state of journalistic standards and the bullying tactics of certain newspapers (*cough*Daily Mail*cough*) in the aforementioned book, was testifying to MPs in Parliament yesterday. One of the things he said was that “a certain newspaper” [...]
Posted by: RFM on: March 25, 2009
In an interesting example of doublethink, The Telegraph has a story about the number of complaints received by the BBC over their “excessive” coverage of Jade Goody. They did go a bit overboard on Sunday – they claim this is because it was a slow news day. But they’ve received 69 complaints.
The Telegraph can’t resist [...]
Posted by: RFM on: March 10, 2009
Madeleine McCann was treated as a “commodity” by the UK press, her father Gerry has told MPs.
Some reports about the missing girl had been “embellished” or even made up, the culture, media and sport select committee was told.
Papers had, without evidence, published stories suggesting Madeleine was dead, which could have stopped people looking for her, [...]
Posted by: RFM on: November 27, 2008
The Guardian Media section has yet more BBC navel gazing and self-flagellation in the form of a review of swears
.
Beware of salty language in the actual article, as well as in the (somewhat predictable) comments.
My view is that when swearing is used to pander to a section of the audience, it’s fairly pathetic as [...]
Posted by: RFM on: November 27, 2008
In this Guardian column, Roger Browning gets sweet revenge for what he perceived as poor customer service by explaining how he complained to the ASA about Apple’s iPhone 3G advertising.
The ASA has now adjudicated and instructed Apple to withdraw the advertising. Just 17 people complained about the ad – I wonder if all of them [...]
Posted by: RFM on: November 11, 2008
Quarantine, the American re-tread of the Spanish film [Rec] is, as I expected rated R (for restricted) in the USA. This means that under-18s can see the film if accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.
In the UK, Quarantine gets the same rating as [Rec], 18. An 18 certificate in the UK does not mean [...]
Posted by: RFM on: September 25, 2008
If you ever wondered whether people smoking on film are being sponsored to do so, the answer is that they probably were. (I wonder if Patty and Selma in The Simpsons are being paid?) But what an investment! Watch a Hollywood film from the 1940s today, and those Big Tobacco dollars are still paying dividends, [...]
