by Sunny Hundal

Unbelievable. A ruling by the PCC on another case involving Richard Littlejohn essentially says they can’t do anything about general homophobia in the press.

On 23rd November Richard Littlejohn wrote:

When I went to Sunday school, a million years ago, we were taught to love our neighbour. I don’t recall ever being told that we should take an ‘eye for an eye’ literally. Or that the punishment for homosexuality was death. Aged six, we didn’t even know what homosexuality was, even though we’d been warned to steer clear of that chap who was always hanging round the swimming pool.

This is typical of Littlejohn of course. Three people chose to complain to the Press Complaints Commission over the article.

Their response (via Tabloid Watch)

The complainants were concerned that the article implied that homosexual individuals were paedophiles. The Commission acknowledged the complainants’ concerns that the columnist had equated homosexuality with paedophilia. However, while the terms of Clause 12 (Discrimination) prevent newspapers from making prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individual’s sexual orientation, it does not cover generalised remarks about groups or categories of people. Given that the complainants were concerned that the article discriminated against homosexual individuals in general, the Commission could not establish a breach of Clause 12 (Discrimination) of the Editors’ Code of Practice on these grounds.

You can be as homophobic / bigoted about people as you want in our national press. The industry self-regulator won’t even tell you off.