Jennifer Steadman wrote:...(Obviously totally made up - astonishing that they're legally allowed to get away with publishing what they do, but
here's some insight)
Thing is, the Sunday Sport doesn't operate in the same way as normal news sources (not that it is one). Like the National Enquirer in the USA, it publishes anything and everything - almost always the invention of their contributors, whether true or not - because they know that they can't be sued; it's assumed that everyone knows that their stories are mainly fantasy. The ones that might actually be libellous never involve anyone of note and due to this country's absurd legal system, they won't sue because they can't afford to do so. And if they do involve people in the public eye who have the money to potentially sue - which are very rare - if you read the stories, they're always worded in a way that implies that the "story" is untrue anyway. And so, anyone attempting legal action against them would just make themselves look daft and would be laughed out of court in ten seconds flat. So no-one does it.
More intriguing, I think, is the way that the mainstream newspapers get away with similar things (the Daily Mail and The Sun are especially good at it). To take a recent example: the Elton John/David Furnish/anal sex/oil baths with various folk story (the precise details I'd rather not explore). The story was true and was backed up by a whole host of protagonists and others who - while not getting directly involved, so to speak - were there and could potentially give testimony within the English court system. So Elton instigated an injunction against it being reported in the English media (that it was widely reported in Scotland and elsewhere made it even better; despite his injunction, everyone who wanted to know about it could find out the details easily). But the English press couldn't directly report it, so instead they went with similar stories - "exposes" of "male brothels" and "dens of iniquity" - and casually peppered such stories with the names Elton John and David Furnish instead, without directly making a causal link.
Once you realise the method, a lot of what are - on the surface - bland news articles become a lot more interesting.
