Landeskunde GB British tabloids

Editor, heal thyself

Britains racy tabloids try internal reforms

ritains tabloid newspapers have long

concentrated on the lurid and voyeur5
istic, whether it be shocking photographs of air-crash victims on the pages of the
PEOPLE or bare-bosomed women on page 3
of the SUN. But in recent months, the newspapers owners have discovered that the
10regular diet of sex, scandal and sensationalism
has resulted in parliamentary indigestion and
growing public outrage. With the threat of
governmental press control approaching, 20 of
the countrys leading newspapers last week
15signed a broad code of ethics, which includes
the hiring of mediators, obviously to slap
down editors and reporters who place exploitation before fairness.
The British publics antipathy to the press
20was heightened last month when the PEOPLE,
a Sunday tabloid with 2.7 million in
circulation, printed two front-page pictures of
Prince Williams, 7, urinating in a park
(headline: THE ROYAL WEE). That led to
25protest from Prince Charles and Princess
Diana and to the subsequent firing of editor
Wendy Henry by the publisher, Robert Maxwell. Earlier in the year, the editor of the SUN
(circ. 4.2 million) apologized in print for a
30story alleging that drunken Liverpool soccer
fans had viciously attacked rescue workers
after 95 fans were crushed to death at a
crowded soccer stadium in Sheffield. The
wildly exaggerated story caused a boycott of
35the paper in Liverpool. The SUN, owned by
Rupert Murdoch, was already shocked by a
$1.8 million out-of-court settlement with rock
star Elton John after falsely accusing him of

using the services of a male prostitute.

The new code, which carries no penalties,
was written by the Newspapers Publishers
Association, a group that includes both tabloids and the so-called qualities, like the
TIMES and the GUARDIAN. It was formu45lated, admits Arthur Davidson, director of
Associated Newspapers, because of a belief
that legislation of some sort would come
about. The British press, which lacks the
protection of a constitutional right to free ex50pression, is already constrained by a law that
sharply restricts what it can print on nationalsecurity matters. And a group, set in by the
government, is to report next year on what
additional measures are needed to protect the
55British publics right to privacy.
Anticipating this study, the code pledges to
protect privacy (except when there is a public
interest in intruding), to provide an
opportunity for reply, to correct mistakes
60promptly, and to avoid irrelevant references to
race, color and religion. The code also promises an end to the sort of deception that followed the Sheffield tragedy, when journalists
posed as social workers to interview grieving
65relatives.
But can the tabloids really reform themselves? Well, the day after the code was
signed, the SUN was back on the street with a
story that began, Sex-mad Barbara Williams
70has ditched her toy boy hubby.
40

[Adapted from TIME, Dec 11, 1989; 455

words.]

hm-abo Januar 1990