Let me tell you that if you focus in on anyone's eyes, as one of the Red Tops did with those of Joanna Yeates' landlord's in Saturday's paper, you can make them look seriously dodgy. Touch up the picture to make the eyes even darker and the job's done - bang to rights readers. Well actually, no, it means nothing at all.
Having done just enough Media Law to be dangerous, I'm gobsmacked at the coverage of the Joanna Yeates case, and it's been bad enough for Dominic Grieve, the coalition government's Attorney General to issue a warning (not much of a warning actually: being warned by Mr Grieve seems to be on a par with being savaged by a lamb).
I was sitting in a hotel in Norfolk when Sky News announced that police had arrested a 65-year old man on suspicion of murder. Being a naive type I imagined that the case was now 'active' under the Contempt of Court Acit 1981, and that the press would therefore have to be careful what they said. Five minutes later Sky named the man as Chris Jeffries, and the tidal wave of rumour and innuendo started to roll. What followed has been so disgusting that I cannot imagine that, should Jeffries (now released on bail) ever be charged, he could get a fair trial - where would twelve people be found who hadn't read the weekend's papers or watched television?
Today's Sunday Times, in its full 'thinking man's Sun' style, is just one example of reporting that is nothing short of scurrilous. It tells us that police were 'familiar with the property where Yeates had lived'. Setting the scene as Clifton, described by Betjeman as the 'handsomest suburb in Europe', it goes on to tell of one of Jeffries' former colleagues (a teacher at £27,000-a-year Clifton College, and therefore a toff who is to be disliked) who abused a child in one of the flats. It then stretches its innuendo almost beyond belief by saying that another resident is a cousin of a woman whose best friend was murdered 36 years ago, and that Jeffries was a teacher at Clifton College at the time.
I have no idea of whether Chris Jeffries has ever even had as much as a parking ticket in the past - if he had then I'm sure that we would have been told by now - but he has had his reputation thoroughly besmirched in recent days, and he isn't the only one. Yeates' boyfriend had to suffer a bit of the 'nudge nudge, wink wink' stuff himself and he was moved to issue a statement criticising the 'character assassination' of his landlord.
The whole coverage of this tragic case stinks from beginning to end. Did we really need to see the pictures of the grieving parents being taken to the scene where the body was found - you know, I'd managed to work out for myself that they would be distraught, and I didn't need some sleazy television news team to confirm that for me.
Am I cut out to be a journalist? I think I am, but certainly not one of the pond life journos or editors responsible for the shabby coverage of the Joanna Yeates case. Let's hope that Chris Jeffries has the will to sue some of the press, and that Dominic Grieve has the balls to start actions for Contempt against all news organisations that have transgressed. Joanna Yeates is a tragic victim, but she isn't the only one in this whole sorry saga.
Happy New Year!
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