By Gabriel Princewill And Tony O’Reilly-
The Sun Newspaper has been attacked by Nathan Sparkes, the chief executive of Hacked Off – a campaign group that was set up in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.
He accused The Sun publication of breaching journalistic standards in stating that it had “failed to follow very basic journalistic standards in pursuit of this story”.
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“In particular, the newspaper’s failure to initially report on the objections the young person at the centre of the story had to the allegations made is very serious and raises doubts about the evidential basis of the whole piece,” he said.
He added: “It also didn’t report on the fact that the person is estranged from their parents. We don’t know if they knew this, but they ought to have discovered it in the course of their engagement with the parents.”
Sparkes further attacked the publication for reporting on the issue, arguing that the act involved no criminality.
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He said: “Reports also suggest that The Sun may have been aware that police officers had looked into the alleged wrongdoing, and found the activities complained of were not unlawful, which raises further doubts about the story’s integrity given the alleged illegality is a critical part of the public interest justification for going to print with this.”
“The presumption of innocence until proven guilty has been thrown out the window,” Tatchell said.
“Unless a criminal offence has been committed or the young person has complained, it is a private matter and no one else’s business
LGBTQ+ rights activist, Peter Tatchell, jumped on the bandwagon in condemning The Sun, arguing that the story wasn’t in the public interest because the young person at the centre of the case has insisted there was no illegal activity.
Tatchell went on to accuse The Sun of “double standards” and “hypocrisy”.
He said: “[The Sun] is aghast that a BBC presenter allegedly paid a young man thousands of pounds for allegedly sexually explicit photos. But for decades that newspaper made millions in profits publishing sexually explicit photos of young women on page three.”
That was attacking blow to The Sun newspaper, but Mr Sharp’s attack does not take into account what safeguarding checks The Sun Newspaper may have had in place with regards their selection of page three girls. Where page three girls earning £35k from posing naked? Where they on crack cocaine like the vulnerable girl in question in the Huw Edward story.
It consultant, Sharon Witts said: ” Who want a television presenter that pays young girls to strip naked. There is no legitimate criticism that can made again the decision to publish the story. We can’t have top television executives using their high wages to exploit the vulnerabilities of people, especially when it involves people who suffer from substance abuse”.
Huw’s wife, Vicky Flind, blew her husband’s cover when she revealed he was the man at the centre of t for his pleasure.
She revealed he is in hospital and was suffering from serious mental health issues.
The revelation sent shock waves across the UK, given the status Mr Edward held in the BBC as the corporation’s highest paid newscaster.
A commonly well established fact among well informed people is that not all misconduct falls within the bands of a criminal offence,
Ethics
Mr Sparkes view ignores the ethical issue surrounding the payment of money to a young girl on drugs.
A majority of a small sample of 100 people ordinary brits spoken to about The Sun’s article felt exploiting a drug addict by using power and money to do what can be interpreted as degrading another person is an ethical issue in the public interest highlighted by the publication.
It consultant, Sharon Witts said: ” Who want a television presenter that pays young girls to strip naked for his pleasure. It is not possible for anyone to legitimately criticise exposing a television presenter for paying a crack addict to send nude pictures of herself. The critic in this case is missing the point”.
Hacked Off’s Sparkes said the matter should be “properly investigated and reforms made where necessary” to ensure allegations of wrongdoing are “dealt with appropriately”.
He added: “Thankfully, the BBC does have independent oversight, which makes investigations and accountability possible.”
Mr Sparkes also must be held accountable for trying to defend an indefensible position.
It was in the public interest to expose such deplorable conduct as that committed by Hue Edward.
The Sun was contacted to address the allegations made by the Hacked Off presenter, but declined to comment.
Pink news and Nathan Sparkes were also contacted to defend their positions. They also declined to comment.
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