This entry was posted on
Monday, March 16th, 2009 at
12:10 pm and is filed
under Old Media.
SPECIAL UPDATE – If you’re into Facebook (I’m not, myself) click here to join the group created in response to the shameful front-page attack on Dunblane survivors.
[For those who came in late: Paula Murray: certified depth and text-only archive of her article, which earned her front-page headline from her editor Derek Lambie in the Scottish Sunday Express on March 8, 2009]
How do you like my headline? Please keep in mind that it’s only a draft, and based in part on the following photo from Paula Murray’s Facebook profile:
OK, readers, I can hear the cruel laughter and the shocking personal abuse from here and I want it to stop right now.
No, seriously, I want you to stop it right now before we proceed beyond the fold.
I can wait all day, people….
[ ———– fold ———–]
OK, let’s set a few things straight:- Though there are no photos of Paula with a man/life-partner of her own that I can find, the description of ‘spinster aunt’ is borderline, and ‘old maid’ should be withheld until the moment she reaches 51 (or when her ovaries dry up, whichever comes first).- Though it is not apparent in this photo, Paula does actually have a chin. A picture of it appears below.- This second photo should also show that Paula doesn’t always wear itty-bitty pigtails in the fashion of mutton dressing as lamb, and is in fact a vibrant and youthful woman. Who has a chin.
All right then, now that we’ve set the record straight on a few things and reigned in the personal and really quite shocking abuse of this poor defenceless woman, let’s get back to the subject of Paula Murray’s cavalier attitude toward underage drinking…It would be wrong of me to take a single photo and present it out of context in a way that suggests that Paula Murray is in the habit of providing young children with alcohol, especially when studies have shown that in all but eleventy percent of cases of ‘drink dealing’, the dealers themselves have drinking problems (though I may have nicked that statistic from somewhere or just made it up, I cant remembers).So let me absolutely clear on this point; I do not want to suggest that Paula Murray has a drinking problem.Instead, I’d much prefer that she did it for me:
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In her attack on Dunblane survivors, Paula Murray castigated and demonised survivors of that tragedy who “boasted about alcoholic binges”, which is EXACTLY what she’s doing here.Obviously, this is just cherry-picked text, and making a judgement based on these statements alone would be a wrong.So to back them up, here’s a series of photos of Paula getting pished with her mates:
Of course, these are all photos from social events, and unless she hangs out with some serious binge-drinkers and enablers, this in itself is no cause for concern. However, when anyone starts drinking alone as a matter of routine, alarm bells start to ring:
Well, this is clearly unacceptable behaviour for any public defender of moral rectitude.One can only hope that this behaviour was not conducted while laughing in the faces of the dearly departed (though, obviously, my assuming/suggesting that it definitely was would be very wrong indeed):
Now, let’s pretend that this is what Elizabeth Smith MSP had to say about it all:
MSP Elizabeth Smith, Scottish Tory spokeswoman for children, schools and skills, said: “I have to say personally I’m not happy. Some of the things that go up on these websites are very unfortunate and I don’t think they give a very good picture about the youngsters. Some of them are in great bad taste and I am quite worried about that. I feel embarrassed about it and I’m sure other people do too. In some cases the people are still really young and you can’t really expect them to have a sense of responsibility. I’m sure that when they look back at what they have done in 10 years time they will be cringing with embarrassment.” (archive of source)
And to close, let’s take a look at one last screen capture from Paula Murray’s Facebook account that appears to show the moment just before she realised that she didn’t even need to log out of Facebook to get her big scoop published on March 8th:
It was after this that she went digging for dirt on Dunblane survivors, perhaps becoming their ‘friend’ just long enough to get her hands on what she needed. What a class act.I salute you, Paula Murray, and the alcohol-fuelled hydra of hypocrisy you work for.
SPECIAL UPDATE – If you’re into Facebook (I’m not, myself) click here to join the group created in response to the shameful front-page attack on Dunblane survivors.
-UPDATE – Guardian – PCC targets Sunday Express over Dunblane allegations: The Press Complaints Commission has launched an investigation after the Scottish edition of the Sunday Express ran a front page story alleging survivors of the Dunblane massacre “shamed” the memory of their dead friends by boasting about drunken nights out on social networking websites. A spokesman for the PCC told MediaGuardian.co.uk that the press watchdog had received more than 30 complaints, two of which were from people mentioned in the article, and had launched an investigation under sections one and three of the editors code – a voluntary set of principles newspaper editors have agreed to – which cover breaches of privacy and accuracy.-UPDATE (20 Mar) – If any of Paula’s friends would like to see their faces removed from this post, then please do get in touch.
By Dave Cole March 16, 2009 - 1:19 pm
PCC targets Sunday Express over Dunblane allegations:http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/mar/16/pcc-t…
By Manic March 16, 2009 - 1:31 pm
Post updated (and link fixed). Thanks, Dave.(No HTML in comments here, BTW – I like to pretend it's because I'm kickin' it Old Skool. If you post a URL a hyperlink will appear as if my magic.)
By Guy Gooberman March 16, 2009 - 2:13 pm
Bloody brilliant Tim, fighting fire with fire, a most excellent post indeed.
By DJ Jenns March 16, 2009 - 4:30 pm
Just messaged her with this….——————————Wow, top notch reporting, really, top notch! What a fantastic piece of journalism to report those awful and shocking young adults and their irresponsible behaviour. How DARE they talk about drinking, having sex and posting obscenities on their personal social networking sites. What a disgrace they are to their fellow classmates.Are you kidding me? I mean really, is this a serious article? I find it quite hilarious that someone of "your" nature would have written such a piece. Social Networking sites are filled with this sort of garbage and if you'd taken that angle – of how terrible some of the stuff posted on them is then I'm sure that would have made a good article.The fact you single-handedly filed out this group, to get a cheap and dirty story out of the fact the anniversary was near is downright appauling. If anyone has abused the memory of the children killed then it is quite easily you, these people should be left alone in peace and out of the media spotlight to try and move on with their lives.——————————"Paula Murray is looking for stories" 3rd March 2009 – Fucking says it all…
By spin_buldak March 16, 2009 - 11:51 pm
my mail to Paula….———————–Paula,Caught your piece on the Dunblane massacre, you soulless monster. Easy copy from Facebook eh? Attacking children for being part of the very society that endorses this culture.Would you rather these kids spent lifes of anonymity and never moved past the tradegy that besmirched their lives? Whilst their own actions are hardly laudable, your own self documented drinking habits on facebook hardly leave you room to judge.Go and find yourself a soul.Sincerely,
By Betty Noir March 18, 2009 - 6:45 pm
It's always interesting when an ugly soul is reflected in a plug ugly face, and Paula, you are FUGLY from your claws to your porcine features!!!What a fat-fuck hypocrite!
By Manic March 18, 2009 - 6:55 pm
Betty: I'm only letting your comment go unmoderated because it is an excellent example of needless abuse.Please bear with me, I am trying to be constructive. Let me show you the 'needless' bit, which should be all you need:What Murray did was definitely ugly and she is clearly a hypocrite; everything else you surround that with is not only surplus to requirements, but also potentially useful to Paula if she wishes to cause a diversion by playing the victim.I'm hoping this comment is taken in the spirit in which it was intended.Cheers
By Dave March 21, 2009 - 6:05 am
Great post. Wonderful to see that it's now the top result when you google Paula Murray – thoroughly deserved retribution for a shameful example of the worst in journalism.
By Claire April 26, 2009 - 3:01 pm
Just a thought, but has anyone considered that maybe Paula isn't actually evil? I know the story was completely awful but having worked as a journalist for a while I know that editors often insist that journalists do stories they really don't want to do. I don't know Paula but I know people who do and it seems to be that she was forced into doing the story by her bosses.Now maybe all of this women's critics would have refused to do the story and dealt with the consequences (of being sacked and quite possible never getting a job as a journalist again) but I'm just pointing out that Paula might not have gleefully set out to write a horrible story that would upset lots of people.I understand that anyone connected with the Dunblane tragedy has the right to really, really dislike Paula, and I wouldn't expect them to react in any other way than they have. But perhaps those not personally connected could try and remember that she is just a woman who wrote one very bad story. She's not a murderer or a child molester. There are many people who have done considerably worse things than she has who haven't been the target of anything like this kind of abuse.
By Manic April 27, 2009 - 3:11 pm
Hello Claire, and welcome to Bloggerheads.I take it you read the comments before commenting yourself and took note that needless abuse is not being tolerated here.Or have you simply repeated the same comment with no regard for context?http://www.thepickards.co.uk/index.php/200903/sun…http://www.thepickards.co.uk/index.php/200904/pau…As for the whole role of the editor thing, it's Derek Lambie you'll be wanting words with, and Paula's advice/input you'll be needing before making any claim/implication that Derek Lambie ordered the story.Do get back to me if you have anything further to add.Paula herself has always been welcome to show up and have her say.