- Not Wynning ways - 21st November 2024
- Winning the race…. - 20th November 2024
- More turbulence - 19th November 2024
During 23 years with The BBC, and a 41 year journalistic career (when he was trained to use clear and simple language, avoiding jargon), our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry almost became used to the abuse he endured as a member of the media, and now this is highlighted by opera singer Wynne Evans declaring that the press told “lies” about him as he was ejected from television’s Strictly Come Dancing.
I sympathise – because I have been in that situation myself.
NOT with Wynne Evans you understand, but with the press after he accused them of ‘lying’.
Under the headline: “Wynne Evans slams media ‘lies’ after Strictly exit”, The BBC reported him saying: “I’m still astounded that people are allowed to write any, for want of a better word, lies that they want“.
Mr Evans, who is an opera singer and found fame in insurance adverts, had been caught up in controversy with dance partner Katya Jones after what they called a “running joke” backfired.
“The Strictly family are perfect in every way”, he said. “The press are a different kettle of fish”.
I’m astounded too – but about being called a ‘liar’ myself in the past, when all I have tried to do is report FACTS!
I have been accused of being that many times, but the information that is relied on is usually in the public domain, and double-checked by a specialist libel lawyer before publication.
In the past I have also been described online (incorrectly) as a “bastard” (many times), an “anti-devolutionist wanker”, “pure scum”, a “little git”, and (correctly) a “nosey git”, “irritating”, or a “nuisance”.
A former Welsh lobbyist called Daran Hill was particularly obnoxious.
He was jailed for his paedophile behaviour, after being found with 62 indecent images, among them eight in the most serious category when he was arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in 2021.
But before his appalling crimes came to light he had accused me of being “bitter”, and a “misogynist” (misspelt) on Twitter/X, forcing me to take legal action after which a fulsome apology was forthcoming.
Comments about me have also had to be referred to the police for investigation.
A Marc Winchester said on Twitter/X, in a tweet which has since been deleted: “I’ll whack him (me)“, and the definition of the verb ‘to whack’ in the Urban Dictionary is: “to murder someone”.
He had links to the failed company No Debt Ltd and when it was wound up the liquidator said: “At the date of liquidation the Company’s draft accounts for the year ended 30 June 2015 suggested that the former director…of the Company… Mr Winchester (owed) the Company…a collective amount totalling £317,406…Mr Winchester was declared bankrupt on 23 May 2017”.
This Mr Winchester is a family member, although it appears he is another part of the Winchester ‘club’.
But there is a connection with Marc Winchester, too, through another crashed business which also hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons – Falcon and Pointer Ltd.
The BBC reported that the licence to practice was taken away after more than 40 million nuisance calls had been made. The item said: “Falcon and Pointer Ltd used automatic dialing technology to make the calls about mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI). The Claims Management Regulator (CMR)…(said)…The firm set out to ‘plague the public and rip off consumers’…”
If anything, the torrent of insults is increasing!
Attempts have been made (thankfully unsuccessful!) to close down my website, The Eye, because people didn’t like what was said there.
My Wikipedia entry has been vandalised several times, and in one instance the words ‘tool’ and ‘knob head’ were inserted. I have also been compared on Twitter/X to the comedy broadcaster Alan Partridge.
The Wikepedia entry has now been restored to its original form, after officials removed the abusive words.
The Alan Partridge comment was by a Sion Tomos Owen whose blog describes him as: “…a bilingual TV and Radio presenter, illustrator, writer and creative workshop tutor…”.
Mr Owen said in Welsh: “There’s no way that this website (The Eye) is for real?! It’s as if a Take a Break (light magazine) story has been edited by Alan Partridge” (laughing emoji).
Another remark which concerned a television ‘reporter’ who had posted pictures of herself on social media in skimpy clothes, is sadly typical of the insults I constantly receive: “Your article on Ellie Pitt was bordering on mysogynistic bullying, a really pathetic article written by a bitter individual who was a complete failiure as a BBC correspondent and also loved bashing the Catholic Church with your disgraceful Panorama programme”.
Indeed accusations of being ‘misogynistic’ (which is the correct spelling) or ‘misogynist’, are a constant refrain among those who hurl offensive comments, if factual stories are published with the targets happening to be women, yet these are potentially libellous words and the description is also provably wrong.
I rarely sue (although I do sometimes) unless the online message is particularly outrageous, and contains a libel (which most of them do).
Some can be rebutted in court using an “honest comment” defence (formerly known as “fair comment”), however most cannot, which means that any libel case is likely to be successful.
Perpetrators of this abuse appear to be unaware of the legal ramifications of their statements, and say the most appalling things online (which, of course, have been PUBLISHED to a third party so the RULES APPLY!).
Perhaps Mr Evans should be made aware of these rules before he calls media coverage about him “lies”…
The memories of Phil’s decades long award-winning career in journalism (when abuse was fairly rare at the beginning) as he was gripped by the incurable neurological condition, Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order it now!
Tomorrow – Phil looks at how identifying key trends has always been central during his long journalistic career, and now comes further news which underlines this. The biggest trend of all is sweeping across the world: building cities.
