On Saturday I covered, what maybe we should now refer to the alleged presence of a Drone shutting down Gatwick airport.
I am far from being a legal expert I know enough that simply because someone has been arrested is not tantamount to a conviction or even going to trial and realise the Police often get things wrong.
So I wrote
It seems that the Daily Mail had no problem however in putting this on the front page.
As the Guardian points out
I am not sure the last sentence is correct the media in general have whipped up almost a Lynch Mob amongst some people , naturally upset and angry having their holiday preparations .
Now we have speculation that from Detectives investigating the Gatwick drone attacks which caused three days of chaos for passengers it is possible there never were any drones.
Police do not have any footage of the flying machines at the airfield and are relying on accounts from witnesses and the discovery of a damaged device.
How long I wonder before it is claimed that this has been whipped up to distract people from Theresa May's appalling treatment of Westminster Democracy , by not having a vote on her latest Brexit Deal
The embattled Prime Minister Theresa May delayed a critical parliamentary vote on her proposal for Britain’s departure from the European Union, a humiliating retreat that left the country’s economic and political future uncertain, and revealed her tenuous hold on power.
In changing course so late, Mrs. May has left the country without any clear way forward after an agonizing battle over an issue that has gripped British society for nearly three years.
It's a nonsense conspiracy theory of course, but surely less damaging than speculation that just because a Police Force under pressure for results , may have made a huge error in their investigation, and a Media who think they can try and convict our fellow citizens on their front page.
I am far from being a legal expert I know enough that simply because someone has been arrested is not tantamount to a conviction or even going to trial and realise the Police often get things wrong.
So I wrote
The fact that (if they are the people responsible) that two people have been arrested in connection with the “criminal use of drones” which has caused widespread disruption to flights at Gatwick airport, is reassuring.
It seems that the Daily Mail had no problem however in putting this on the front page.
As the Guardian points out
One newspaper in particular, the Mail on Sunday, seems to me to have gone way over the top in its coverage. The front page of this morning’s issue was dominated by a picture of the pair next to the headline: “Are these the morons who ruined Christmas?”
That question mark is no defence and will surely offer the paper’s editor little, if any, wriggle room should the couple choose to complain to the regulator, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), or even take legal action.
Although the text was more circumspect, the Mail on Sunday’s headline gave readers a giant nudge towards a belief in the couple’s guilt. And an unidentified “neighbour” was quoted as saying the arrested man was “a big kid”.
All of this – the weight of the coverage, the headline and the slyly belittling quote to undermine his credibility – is a little reminiscent of the notorious incident at Christmas 2010 when Christopher Jefferies was arrested on suspicion of murdering his tenant, Joanna Yeates. He was innocent and quickly released, but by then his character had been assassinated because several national newspapers had thrown caution to the wind. The drones case is less clear cut, and the offence minor in comparison, but there are echoes.
Now we have speculation that from Detectives investigating the Gatwick drone attacks which caused three days of chaos for passengers it is possible there never were any drones.
Police do not have any footage of the flying machines at the airfield and are relying on accounts from witnesses and the discovery of a damaged device.
How long I wonder before it is claimed that this has been whipped up to distract people from Theresa May's appalling treatment of Westminster Democracy , by not having a vote on her latest Brexit Deal
The embattled Prime Minister Theresa May delayed a critical parliamentary vote on her proposal for Britain’s departure from the European Union, a humiliating retreat that left the country’s economic and political future uncertain, and revealed her tenuous hold on power.
In changing course so late, Mrs. May has left the country without any clear way forward after an agonizing battle over an issue that has gripped British society for nearly three years.
It's a nonsense conspiracy theory of course, but surely less damaging than speculation that just because a Police Force under pressure for results , may have made a huge error in their investigation, and a Media who think they can try and convict our fellow citizens on their front page.
1 comment:
The media seems to have learned nothing - and changed nothing - since it hung,drew and quartered poor Christopher jeffries in connection with the joanna yeates investigation a decade ago
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