Latest Shouts

So Andrew Marr has come out and said that he has used a Super injunction in the past to prevent the press from reports on an extramarital affair he had. You have to admire him in a funny way for going public on this issue (although coming clean sooner may have been more principled).

This is a very interesting debate in the modern Celebrity Culture and it seems that Celebrities want it both ways. They want the fame and the trappings that go with it and use the media to promote themselves and then use the law to prevent the bad things coming out.

There was a very interesting point on BBC breakfast this morning where a Media lawyer said that once a Celeb uses the media to promote them-selves then they become fair game. This is different from them promoting a movie or music or, primarily their day job. An example of this is where an actor invites Hello or OK magazine into their home in order to promote their own Celebrity. Once you open Pandora ’s Box it’s difficult to close it again.

The real debate is the definition of  “Public Interest” versus “interest to the public”. This is the point that the government are saying should be debated and agree in Parliament and not by the Judiciary.

It is also the conflict of articles of Human Rights law where both Freedom of Speech (Article 10) and the right to Respect for Private and Family Life (Article 8).  

At the end of the day if a Celebrity is doing something they know is wrong they should put the though in before making a bad decision and realise the consequences of their actions and not well if I get caught I will get an Injunction.

One other thing I didn’t realise until today and that is that several Corporations have used these super injunctions to stop information getting into the public domain. This is an appalling state of affairs and needs to be put right.