Curse you JamHamster!
...for getting there first.

In order to enforce the idea that the media are there to report, you know, facts, any media outlet that publishes something that is either

a) A blatant invasion of someone's privacy and in no way in the public interest

or

b) An obvious distortion of someone's work, research or writing/speech

or

c) Demonstrably false, but testable before publication

should be fined on the following scale: 1st offence = 10% of assets, 2nd offence = 50% of assets, 3rd offence = 100% of assets.

The tabloids (including the Mail and the Express) would go under within 6 months and the remaining papers would have to seriously raise their game. Yay!
(flimflam_machine, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 14:06, 4 replies)

I always get there first!
Just ask the (Very disappointed) ladies! ;-)
( JamHamster My eyes, my beautiful eyes!, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 14:11, closed)

Sadly, that shit is public interest.
I think it should be deemed as reporting on a person's personal life when that person is deemed a celebrity, or known person, as an invasion of privacy, even if said person is in a public place, and not protected under the First Amendment(in the US).
(CactusZack Shaved his coin purse on, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 14:19, closed)

I meant the public interest like this:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_interest

Not what the public are actually interested in (the bunch of tasteless wankers).
(flimflam_machine, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 14:24, closed)

6 months?
I'd give 'em two days.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 14:21, closed)

I was allowing a short time for legal proceedings etc.

There should be enough cut and dried cases in the first 2 days, I agree.
(flimflam_machine, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 14:23, closed)

Aa a working journalist, I agree wholeheartedly
That's because I'm a print journalist in the states. We recently had a pretty 19-year-old girl murdered by (apparently) her boyfriend. We're outside Chicago and have two dailies, a public broadcasting station and some radio stations that cover the area well.

The girl dies, and tv and "big" radio descend and provide the worst misinformation and rumor mongering possible. I spend most of my time hunting down and discrediting falsehoods. No, the suspect's father didn't find the body. No, it wasn't in a detention pond but on an incline by the railroad tracks. No, the suspect isn't also a suspect in last year's disappearance of an Indiana girl -- that happened 200 miles away at the other end of the state.

The best part? A black woman in mostly "African-American" Gary disappears and is found dead, and the same media ignores it.
(ChiTown Guy Dating when 35+: sane, single, attractive - pick 2, Sun 25 Sep 2011, 16:16, closed)