The Sun (a British tabloid) puns about the death of a serial killer:

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I may be alone in this, but I find it very hard to rejoice about anyone’s death. I felt similarly about the coverage of, and reaction to, the deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein, especially the gruesome photographs released by the US forces.

The Sun also published an editorial that was as measured and considered as you would expect.

THE world is a better place today now that Harold Shipman is dead. The wicked doctor was a barbaric creature who betrayed the trust of the patients he murdered and destroyed the lives of several hundred families.

Shipman had supposedly dedicated himself to a lifetime of caring for people. Instead he murdered them: maybe 260, maybe many more. We shall never know. Shipman never once expressed remorse for his evil deeds, nor did he explain what drove him to kill.

By taking his own life — the easy way out — he has left many families feeling cheated of justice. But why are the authorities wasting time and money on finding out how Shipman managed to commit suicide? We should be glad that he’s saved us the cost of keeping him locked up for many years. Let’s hope he’s now sharing a hot room in Hell for eternity with Fred West and Myra Hindley.

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4 responses to “Distasteful”

  1. Simon avatar

    Fair and balanced it is not. That’s why people read it. It makes their mind up for them.

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  2. Chris avatar

    I don’t really expect it to be fair and balanced, but I do think they should resist the temptation to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Yes, a lot of people felt that way about Shipman’s death, so they are probably in tune with popular opinion, but does that really need to be reinforced by a newspaper?
    The only good thing is that the circulation of The Sun is now at its lowest for 30 years.

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  3. fumier avatar

    Doesn’t the Stun have a woman editor now?

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  4. Chris avatar

    Yes, Rebekkah Wade, who was previously editor of the News of the World. She was expected make the Sun more populist, and that seems to be what she has done

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