I’m sure most of you will recall the recent distasteful allegations made against British comics artist Ron Smith (see here and here), which I’m pleased to say he was completely cleared of. Especially after the manner in which the allegations had been covered in the red-top tabloids like the Sun. Michael Molcher, who went to the trouble of getting the facts straight the old fashioned way, by contacting the court for their official records, broke the news that Ron had been cleared, something the tabloids which were happy to report on the case, complete with large, bold face juicy headlines, mostly didn’t bother to do (innocent man cleared not making such a good headline, presumably). Now Michael has posted some thoughts about those events – not the trial itself or Ron, but the nature of reporting and how readers access and understand the news:
“Fewer and fewer people buy or even read a newspaper nowadays. That’s not just a problem for newspapers, it’s a problem for us – we are slowly becoming more and more unused to waiting for our news. I spent more years than I care to remember in a newsroom, and many listless hours sat on uncomfortable court benches watching the wheels of justice grind slowly, slowly, then maddeningly quickly. Yet the reactions to court reports have led me to believe that while we have more news than we know what to do with, we are losing the ability to understand it properly. Conventions that have lasted for decades are fading from our consciousness as we are exposed to outlets that either ignore them or never knew they existed.”
(one of the daily Dredd strips Ron drew for the Daily Star in the 80s – ironically the same sort of red top tabloid which covered his trial allegations recently; click for the larger image)
Its not directly comics-related, excepting that he mentions Ron’s case as an example (and he also mentions an interview to come in the Megazine soon with Ron, something to look forward to, he’s an important part of 2000 AD’s story), but I’d still recommend reading it. I don’t completely agree with his conclusions (for me the Sun’s reporting of the allegations was sleazy and biased, perhaps not biased in the legal sense, but certainly in terms of the preferred reading of the text, a favoured yet legitimate trick of many tabloids) but he makes some good points and its interesting reading. (via Matt ‘Daddy Cool’ Badham)
Related posts:
- Fourth Estate buys UK rights to Scott Pilgrim The Bookseller (the main UK book trade journal) reports that...
- Ron Smith cleared I’m delighted to hear that former 2000 AD artist Ron...
- Ron Smith in court Some disturbing and sad news today, former 2000 AD artist...
- Klingon bandit The Register reports on some convenience store hold ups in...
- Moorcock Who? Oh yes, on the Multiverse forum, Michael Moorcock reports...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
July 31st, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I think it’s outrageous that The Sun has failed to amend its news story on this trial. The link alone perpetuates the false accusations made against Ron and I’m urging everyone to write to the paper demanding they amend or remove the story: http://downthetubescomics.blog.....smith.html