A Journalist for the Sun, Michael Brown, was taken to hospital today suffering from nervous exhaustion after being tasked to write a report for the paper about Stephen Hughes, a former member of the Parachute Regiment and recipient of the Queens Gallantry Medal, who was today convicted on child sex-abuse charges.
Daily Mail sub-editor Jonty Fallon had this to say earlier: ‘I admit it was a big ask for Mike, and it got the better of him. Obviously, we can’t expect our readers to be able to think about two conflicting issues as the same time so he was stuck in Catch-22 really.
‘What we can’t have, though, is a situation where one of our readers tracks down the sick-paedo-scum-pride-of-Britain-war-hero after we have revealed the location of the probation hostel he will be in, and they don’t know whether to spit in his face or kiss his arse.’
It was Brown’s colleague Stephen Brady who first noticed a problem. ‘He’d been sat at his desk for about eight hours straight, just staring at his monitor, furrowed brow, chin resting on his fists, as if he was playing internet chess with Gary Kasparov, winner keeps his balls. Eventually I said to him “why don’t you just write the facts of the story without any emotionally loaded adjectives everywhere?” Well, the whole office pissed themselves laughing at that one. I feel like a right prick now.’
