h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19364261
"David Dinsmore, managing editor of the Sun, said the paper had thought "long and hard" about publication"

Long... hard... uh huh huh huh

The BBC showed a picture of the offending page - with a black bar over the photograph but leaving the text - and apparently it is "vital" that we see these pictures. Vital? Really? I have no problem with them covering the story, despite my lack of interest, but to say that showing the uncensored pictures is vital... pfffffft.

Then again, we could just titter about the pun instead. I can't decide if it was intentional or not. Surely they must have known... surely...

I was under the impression that the media, in the UK, had to be able to 'prove' their 'necessity' to publish such things, under the phrase 'public interest', as opposed to 'printing this will make us a ton of cash' Well, I guess it makes a change from his nazi uniform...

"He [Dinsmore] added: "Hundreds of millions of people have seen these pictures over the internet and it seems perverse that they shouldn't be shown in the pages of our newspaper.

"There is a public interest defence and part of that public interest defence is that if this thing has got so much publicity elsewhere that it would be perverse not to do it then that is acceptable and there is PCC case law on that basis."

Okay, if they're freely available all over the internet there's no need for The Sun to print them, other than to sell more copies and make more money. Cynical. And if they were pictures of Joe Bloggs nobody would be interested so you have to wonder about the motives of people who want to take a gander at Prince Harry's wedding tackle. Salacious.

An interesting use of the word 'perverse' there. It is perverted to *not* display genitalia.

OK, OK, I'm picking that out a little out of context. But sometimes I wonder if people ever sit back and really think about what they are thinking before blurting it out.

And let's face it, that's the old 'Well, everybody else is doing it' defence, which is no defence at all.

Quite.

It wasn't a good enough defense for those kids during the riots last year.

(Apologies for the multiple posts)

There's a difference between perverse and perverted--perverse means acting against your own interest, or deliberately unreasonable. So while doing something perverse *may* be perverted, it is perfectly correct to point out that not printing a picture that will lead to more sales is perverse

. That's a fair point. I suppose I was on my high horse a bit there.

Ahh... But can the public please have a photo of you on your high horse?

*smirk* Vip's horse is high.

*Tries to imagine a high horse... *

Oh, that's funny