Stephen Gately

[tomon]

Never really a boyzone fan but obviously it's sad when anyone dies, especially so young. However I felt sick reading some stupid, uninformed woman's article on his death:

 

Read it here

 

As a self professed "gay rights champion" she sure knows how to stick the knife in. Thankfully the ever awesome Charlie Brooker posted his response to the article:

 

Read it here

 

 

 

And respect to him and thoughts go out to his husband, family and friends.

[Nephylim]

That was truly truly shocking. How low will people go?

 

I followed the suggestion and complained to the Press Complaints Commission. I have to say I wasn't able to do it through the link in the second article and I had to go to their own website but I just had to. How can you do something like that? The things she said about his mother for one thing... for Gods sake the woman lost her son and now has to be subjected to this crap!! I hope she never reads it and no one tells her.

 

I am glad you posted the second article or I might just have exploded. That truly was a nice piece of work as opposed to the previous nasty one.

[Daisy]

There is this as well.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/16/stephen-gately-jan-moir-complaints

 

Brands including Marks & Spencer have asked for their advertising to be removed from the Daily Mail website page featuring a controversial column about the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately.

 

After a storm of protest which grew during the day online, Daily Mail columnist Jan Moir defended her comment piece, rejecting accusations that it was homophobic.

 

In a highly unusual move, the Daily Mail issued a statement from Moir late today in which she hit out at the internet protests that led to more than 1,000 complaints being made to the Press Complaints Commission by 7pm, causing the regulator's website to crash for most of the afternoon. Celebrities Stephen Fry and Derren Brown were among those who used their Twitter feeds to urge followers to make complaints.

 

Display advertising has been removed from the Mail Online webpage around Moir's article. Earlier today a Facebook page was set up urging users to lobby brands featured on the page, including Marks & Spencer, to pull their advertising.

 

"Marks & Spencer does not tolerate any form of discrimination," said a spokesman for the retailer. "We have asked the Daily Mail to move our advertisement away from the article. This is a matter for the Daily Mail."

 

Nestlé, which had an ad for its Nescafe brand running alongside Moir's column on the Daily Mail website, said that the comments made by Moir were a breach of the Swiss company's code for "mutual respect and tolerance".

 

Though, I don't like Nestle at all for their other corrupt practices.

BT and National Express didn't actively pull their advertising. but it didn't matter overall as the Daily Mail removed all ad's as it got heated.

 

.... "When I wrote that 'he would want to set an example to any impressionable young men who may want to emulate what they might see as his glamorous routine', I was referring to the drugs and the casual invitation extended to a stranger. Not to the fact of his homosexuality," she said.

 

"In what is clearly a heavily orchestrated internet campaign I think it is mischievous in the extreme to suggest that my article has homophobic and bigoted undertones," Moir added.

 

Stephen Abell, the PCC deputy director, said the regulator had received 800 complaints today via phone and the internet in a couple of hours about the Moir piece, which has provoked a storm of criticism on Twitter and other social networks such as Facebook over what internet users saw as the Daily Mail writer's insinuation that Gately's death in a Mallorca hotel room last weekend was connected in some unspecified way to the fact that he was gay.

 

The PCC's homepage was back online by about 4.30pm, although it was loading slowly. "It has been a bit of a flurry today," Abell added.

 

Brown, who has about 124,000 Twitter followers, posted a direct link to the PCC online complaints page at about midday today. RT @nikkib @DerrenBrown No use just being cross. Complain where it matters. She breaches 1,3,5 & 12 of the code http://ow.ly/uL56

 

Fry, who has more than 800,000 Twitter followers, re-tweeted this link: "Disgusted with Daily Mail's Jan Moir? Complain where it matters. She breaches 1,3,5 & 12 of the code http://ow.ly/uL56 " (via @kenrayner)

 

looks like that's maybe why you couldn't get on the website...

 

woo, to people power, and that of twitter. the power of complaining and flooding their desks with work.

Edited October 16, 2009 by Smarties

[Daisy]

I would add to this though, that toxicology reports aren't back yet. I don't know the absolute findings of the autopsy.

but there are more potential reasons than an undiagnosed heart condition. there are other reasons why the heart could have stopped or been irregular or whatever. toxins abuse could be one of them. except of course testimony from those there that there wasn't, which I don't know in full. (light use of cannabis)

but again as I say, I don't know what the autopsy actually was other than that it was the lung being filled with fluid. the coroner may have stated other things which they knew meant it was unlikely it was drugs but something else even without the toxicology report which made them confident it was natural (rather than substance related). but obviously they were convinced it wasn't substance, so must believe. I expect the toxicology when it does arrive will show them to be correct, and put that lady to shame again for speculating.

 

celia

Edited October 16, 2009 by Smarties

[Daisy]

quick addition:

my stepmum's brother died in his mid30's from this as well. a sudden irregular heartbeat while he was driving on the motorway. Now the whole family has been screened. It is rare, but still affects loads of people.

[Emulated]

It's such a tragic thing to happen to anyone, especially someone so young.

 

But I really don't understand why Moir came out with such rubbish. What was she really seeking to achieve? Silly woman...

[Cia]

I think that woman's article is full of snide innuendo and inflammatory comments. It is shameful that it was ever written or published. I hope that that piece of trash is pulled and the author should face serious professional repercussions! Absolutely shameful! Even if he had an open relationship or smoked, nothing justifies slander that will only upset his family and offend the gay community.

[Daisy]

and more good news

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/19/jan-moir-complain-stephen-gately

 

21,000 have complained over the weekend. that is apparently more complaints than the PCC (press complaints commission) has had in 5 years total!

 

"If, for whatever reason, those individuals [directly involved] do not wish to make a complaint, the PCC will in any case write to the Daily Mail for its response to the more general complaints from the public before considering whether there are any issues under the code to pursue." PCC

....

 

The PCC rarely investigates complaints not made by people directly involved in articles, unless they are complaints about accuracy. The regulator did last year investigate third-party complaints about press coverage of Alfie Patten after the Sun falsely reported that Patten had fathered a child aged 13, although it eventually dropped its inquiries.

 

In this case the PCC could launch an investigation to see if Moir's article violated parts of its code that deals with intrusion into grief, accuracy, discrimination and homophobia.

 

Paul Dacre, the Daily Mail editor, is chairman of the PCC code committee, which oversees the commission's code of practice that all journalists and newspapers are expected to abide by.

 

so the daily mail editor himself is in a tricky position.