The Accused - National Treasures On Trial

[andy-hughes]

Just watched this Channel 4 documentary, and parts of it were chilling.

For me, one of the worst comments came from BBC journalist Danny Shaw, who basically stated that if you were famous, you could expect to be accused of illegal behaviour, which he failed to qualify as being an utterly unjustified and repugnant aspect of being successful in entertainment.

Did anyone else watch it?

Any thoughts?

[roopower]

Yes, I watched it and was horrified at some aspects. I believe that no-one should be named until they are charged, famous or not. There would be plenty of time for other accusers to come forward before trial. For Paul Gambaccini to be on bail for over 15 months was dreadful, how long would it take to find his accuser was a serial accuser and mentally ill as well? I also felt that the ex editor of the Sun and the chap with the double barrelled surname enjoyed their parts in it all far too much. Ok, a few of the accused were found guilty and locked up but far more didn't have a case to answer, after all that anguish. The business with Cliff's apartment being raided and the media being tipped off was criminal. It's true in this country we put people up there and then enjoy knocking them off and it shouldn't be a part of being famous. It would be a sad world if we had no-one entertaining us in any way, no singers, no music, no dancers, no drama because they were scared of being falslely accused but worse, hung out to dry by the media and the media's iffy followers.

[andy-hughes]

Have to agree Roo - to put people's lives and careers in suspension is utterly wrong.

As Mr Gambaccini has said before, he received no support from the BBC at all.

Having worked for them, I am not at all surprised

[Canary42]

Let's face it, the Mucky Media gets worse every year. They just love wallowing in the murky muddy depths.

The sad thing is, it appears to boost their circulation/viewing figures, so we appear to get what we deserve thanks to the significant number of prurient folks around.

[FatticusInch]

It was utterly scandalous and you can see why Paul Gambacinni was so irked and outraged when being questioned by Victoria Darbyshire.
The Met and BBC didn’t come out of it at all well.

[andy-hughes]

Canary - The press have a vested interest in pretending that 'the public interest' and 'what interests the public', are the same thing.

They are not.

[Canary42]

I don't disagree Andy

[Paigntonian]

Canary: If you so despise 'the media' where do you get your news from?

[roopower]

I havent read a newspaper, except the local weekly online, for years and I don't miss them. In my opinion you can't believe a word they write. Had a little experience with a 'local' paper who wrote an article around an interview they had with my dad. The paper was from the west country, my dad lived in Norfolk and had never heard of the paper, had not given interviews and what they wrote was very loosely based on an article that had been in the Eastern Daily Press some time before.