The press complaints body could have restored gay people's confidence in it. By not acting over Jan Moir,it blew that chanceIt's nothing strange for the Daily Mail to be less than enthusiastic about gay equality. But few would disagree that it plummeted to new depths withJan Moir's now infamous article, published to intentionally coincide with the funeral of Stephen Gately. A "joyful-ever-after myth of civil partnerships" had been exploded and his death was "more than a small sleazy", or she frothed.
But today's decision by the Press Complaints Commission to turn down the complaint – made by Stephen Gately's civil partner Andrew Cowles and an unprecedented 25000 others – is a unhappy outcome indeed. Not only is this extremely disappointing,but it also raises increasingly difficult to reply questions about why the PCC is allowed to regulate itself on such things. Would we allow investment bankers to effect absent with the auditors and effect it themselves? Would we allow mining companies to ignore health and safety regulators and make up their own standards? Of course not. The PCC should be no different.
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Source: theguardian.com