Sunday Telegraph in late, late change of heart over Pauline Hanson photos
The Sunday Telegraph last night took a deadline-busting decision to admit that its so-called nude photographs of politican Pauline Hanson were not her – and to apologise. The decision was taken so late that the version of the paper’s editorial comment that went online at midnight does not include the apology or admission that the pictures were not real.
In a move virtually unprecedented for an Australian newspaper, the Tele this morning gives over its entire editorial column to the apology, which is signed by editor Neil Breen.
And the paper’s decision to shift the blame onto photographer Jamie Fawcett, who brokered last week’s pictures, also appears to have been a late one. In the final edition version of the editorial (which at the time of writing is in the paper’s online archive, although its home page is still mistakenly linked to the old version), Breen says:
“Pauline Hanson: I’ve said all week that I’d be the first person to apologise to you if you if it were proven the pictures we published last weekend were not of you. I am now convinced we have the proof they were presented to us as part of an elaborate con. So Pauline, I am sorry. We should never have published them.”
Mr T, how could you?
This terrible affair was tawdry beyond relief
I’m sure that you will with me agree
That better men don’t go so low beneath
The gutter for standards like these, Mr T.
Is public interest served by hurting publicly
A woman who in her time was brave
Who tried honestly, though unpoliticaly
To to do her best, One Nation, ours, to save.
We did not all agree with what she had to say
But when the pressure was on, she took it all and more
And came away as one who’s courage did display
Genuine character, yet you portyayed her as a whore.
Your falling sales reflect the rue of your wretched rag
Meeting neither readers’ needs nor standards
A despicable desperate dumb detour to drag
A fine woman down to your gutter level you bastards.
Breen specifically said his job should be called into question if the photos were fake. This is incredibly embarrassing for News papers right around the country. Is anyone in Sydney questioning his editorship? Hello? Anyone there…?
Whilst it’s big of The Telegraph’s editor to apologize for taking the Pauline Hanson Photo Con seriously, I think the point should be made here that nude photographs of anyone – whether they be celebrities, serious politicians or political jokes like Pauline Hanson – are really not appropriate in our news media.
Isn’t it enough to just write an article about it? Why do you have to publish grubby, revolting images of someone as physically unattractive as Pauline Hanson, in the nude? (It’s enough to put a person off their lunch, quite frankly.) Couldn’t you just have compared their faces?
I’d also like to point out that I’m not in any way a holy roller or a prude. I like sex and scandal as much as the next person. But really…EW! YUK! BLAH! Seeing naked images of someone like Miss Hanson is a bit like being given a naked calendar of Octagenarians for Christmas. Or a pair of used underpants from your grandma.
Really, you will save yourself a lot of trouble in the future if you simply show a little good taste. Just to be specific, I don’t want to see naked photos of K.Rudd, Mr. Brumby or Kim Beasly either. So if you ever get any, PLEASE, PLEASE don’t publish them.
Thanks.
I thought we were free from this tabloid-esque behaviour we see in other countries. The apology doesn’t quite cut it for me.
I suspect most people think that Neil Breen didn’t belive the photos were genuine, but it was worth the risk for him.
Editors make judgements every day; and on a deadline. Sometime they get it wrong, as in this case. They certainly don’t always apologise. It was a big mistake and a big apology. It’s very easy to not apologise; most of us do it every day. I think this Editor got the balance right.