I was going to write about what I got up to today in Manchester but that changed when I opened the newspapers over the weekend and saw the lovely demolition job the media have done to stand-up comedian Jason Manford. I sat at the little exam table in the hotel room to write this.
For those who don’t know the story, Jason Manford had been swapping messages with female fans on Twitter, messages that were very sexual, and these women would send him pictures of themselves. They then ran to the papers and spilled their guts for around £100 each.
I’m not really going to ponder what kind of person would be so low as to run to a newspaper and sell their story for a couple of quid, mainly because we already know what kind of person does that. Someone with very little respect for themselves or their family.
The thing that hit me was just how vicious the media were being. This guy is on the road a lot and uses Twitter way too much, he got rather saucy with female fans. He did not sleep with anyone or engage in any sexual activity yet the media really went to town on him digging up every little bit of dirty information they could find on him.
I know they do it to pretty much every celebrity but with Manford it just seemed like they went even further for some reason. Was it because he came out of nowhere and become really successful almost overnight?
It is because of journalism like this that makes me embarrassed to admit that I am a writer. When people ask me if I write for newspapers I immediately reply that I’m not scummy enough or slimy enough to work at a paper.
I really feel sorry for him and his wife. His wife has said he was a dickhead for doing what he did but she is sticking with him. So why are the media still paying slags to spill their guts about what they have done with him when he was 16?