Paraphrasing Laura Whitmore's comments on Caroline Flack being driven to suicide

A lot of talk in the media about 'being kind'.

Are we all going to be kind on here?

boltonbonce wrote:Are we all going to be kind on here?

Only if you stop your crazy slipper fetish.

karlypants wrote:

boltonbonce wrote:Are we all going to be kind on here?

Only if you stop your crazy slipper fetish.

Fetish? I like to think I've brought the world of leisure footwear to a wider audience. 

I'm feeling a bit guilty about bad mouthing Buckley. I'll start being kind from now on.

It's more to do with press and media regulation versus uncurbed free speech.

 Government needs to act on the excesses of the press that lead to heartache, self-harming and suicide.

But will they take on the predominantly Tory papers and Murdoch?

If the press are to be challenged, (again), why can't we curb individuals using the social media sites. Having an opinion is fine, but vindictive and spiteful remarks should also be curtailed. Not an easy task, but we could start with properly managing the big American social media sites. The problem now is that these people, and the media, are now so big and influential that they are almost a law unto themselves.
Regards bad comments on here, although sometimes unnecessary, at least we have the option to respond, so a clamp down on here isn't warranted, unless it gets out of hand and personally abusive.

It would be interesting to see what Nat thinks. Evidently upset over recent posts.

gloswhite wrote:If the press are to be challenged, (again), why can't we curb individuals using the social media sites. Having an opinion is fine, but vindictive and spiteful remarks should also be curtailed. Not an easy task, but we could start with properly managing the big American social media sites. The problem now is that these people, and the media, are now so big and influential that they are almost a law unto themselves.

It will be interesting to see what new powers OFCOM are given under the new proposals and moreover how far they are prepared to go to enforce them.

As for this case, I don't really know who Caroline Flack is or what evidence there is to prove that it was media intrusion and media intrusion alone that caused her to top herself - surely she must have had some underlying problem not to take alternative action e.g. selling up and moving to a remote tropical island? I know she was a TV celebrity so she can't have been too skint to have had no other options.

A French mayoral candidate was brought down recently after the publication of a sex tape. The general reaction was outrage at an intrusion of privacy.
In my view, if you're going to have a public face that extolls family virtues, falling below those standards in private makes you fair game.

boltonbonce wrote:A French mayoral candidate was brought down recently after the publication of a sex tape.

Did they vote him down because his election finished prematurely?

I read that the Flack suicide was because she lost the plot after being arrested for a particularly nasty and bloody assault on her boyfriend and couldn't handle being charged with domestic violence offences/name in mud/career in tatters.

wanderlust wrote:

boltonbonce wrote:A French mayoral candidate was brought down recently after the publication of a sex tape.

Did they vote him down because his election finished prematurely?

I read that the Flack suicide was because she lost the plot after being arrested for a particularly nasty and bloody assault on her boyfriend and couldn't handle being charged with domestic violence offences/name in mud/career in tatters.

I'm sure more will come out, but it seems to me her problems went much deeper.

George having his say.