Take It To The Man

In "no shit, Sherlock" news, some Daily Star hack has apparently resigned in protest of the publication's "anti-Muslim agenda". An open letter he sent to big cheese Richard Desmond has being published on the Guardian's website here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/mar/04/daily-star-reporter-letter-full

Cue some mild cheering from the sidelines, perhaps. Yet something doesn't quite sit right me with on this. Let's get to the point here: you take a job on the Star, you know what it involves. You're going to be writing a load of sensationalist bollocks to fill in the gaps between the grainy pictures of half-naked celebrities on the beach and almost naked airbrushed pictures of glamour models. Unless you've been living in a nuclear bunker most of your life, you must surely recognise that when you accept the position, you're going to be selling a part of your soul and just about all of any journalistic integrity you have.

Something doesn't add up on this whole story. For shame, I can almost believe the Star's statement that the journo, who was just a freelance, was just unhappy about being passed over for a permanent position. They also claim that he approached them about Kelly Brook story he made up. I don't know who to believe on that one. The cynic in me reckons Richard Peppiatt (for he is the hack) may well be angling for a job on the Guardian and this is his "I didn't really believe what I was writing! I was forced to write it! I was only following orders!".

And for once, I am allowed to take the moral high ground on this, as I once turned down a job working for a Richard Desmond publication. I was desperate beyond words for a job at the time, but even as a naive, inexperienced early 20something, I could see that a job there was against any principals I had. Plus, as I knew even then, deal with the Devil, don't be surprised when he shoves a red hot poker up your jacksie.