Obsolete

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Scum-watch: How pathetic can you get?

When there's a probable serial killer on the loose, you'd think that the Sun would have other things on its mind than the way the BBC are describing those who've lost their lives. These days though, with Murdoch on an seemingly inexorable rise, any opportunity to bash the BBC is seized upon, as today's Sun leader column shows:

Final insult

THREE prostitutes have been murdered in Suffolk by what appears to be a terrifying serial killer.

Two more are missing.

The women who died had tragic personal histories. At least one was driven to sell her body by a craving for drugs.

The BBC exists in a politically correct world in which words like ‘prostitute’ are deemed offensive.

But they do nothing to dignify these poor victims by creepily describing them as ‘sex workers’ in every bulletin.

I can't say I remember properly whether the BBC were referring to the women killed as sex workers or not on any bulletins I've seen, but that's beside the point. It's quite obvious that if the BBC have been using it, they've been doing so as a synonym so that they aren't repeating the same word over and over again. The current leading reports on the BBC website don't make any use of the term "sex worker".

In any case, the Sun maybe ought to take the "creepy" description up with the trade union which has been established to support those who are involved in the sex industry, who call themselves the International Union of Sex Workers. Then again, seeing as the Sun isn't exactly the biggest fan of trade unions, they're most likely part of the global political correctness conspiracy too.

Back on the moral black hole which is the Sun website, online home of the clearly never creepy paper which happens to be running a competition encouraging readers to send in photographs of themselves at least semi-naked, the chaffing-at the bit hacks are pleading with those who knew the victims to ring in and give them salacious gossip that they can print and call news.

Personally, I find the description of the killer of at least two of the prostitutes found dead so far as the "Suffolk Ripper" is far more potentially offensive to the families and friends of those who have died (not that the Scum are the only ones doing it). The information given so far by the police suggests that the women have been strangled and not sexually assaulted. Both the original "Jack the Ripper" and Peter Sutcliffe, nicknamed the Yorkshire Ripper, viciously attacked and mortally wounded the majority of their victims, while Sutcliffe's crimes had a definite sexual element to them. Those who have been killed so far seem unlikely to have suffered to the extent that their victims did, although we obviously don't know the full details yet, which the Sun will doubtless anyway delight in printing, true or not.

Meanwhile, over on Sun News (sorry, Sky) are providing an image gallery of the dead women and those who have gone missing with the clearly inoffensive title "Red light girls", alongside another gallery of "Celebrity Mugs", showcasing "Stars on the wrong side of the law". The final insult it seems, will not be televised.

Labels: "sex workers", "Suffolk ripper", BBC bashing, murdered prostitutes, Scum-watch, Sun-watch