Not that it was ever in any doubt, but it would seem a detailed knowledge of McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists probably isn’t among the qualities deemed necessary to become a scriptwriter on Hollyoaks.
The above example of blatant disregard for basic media law by the soap’s fictional newspaper was discovered by Archant London executive editor (digital) Matt Withers, who posted on Twitter: “Once again Hollyoaks’ Chester Herald flagrantly flouts the Contempt of Court Act 1981.”
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I remember, in the very early days as a sub, in a rush to get a page to press, I headlined a NIB with a similar gaffe. The constraints of the small column space and haste to get the job done somehow blurred my judgement and it ended up in print. When I saw the page, my heart skipped a beat and I was deservedly b*llocked! Luckily, the defendant either didn’t see the story or had accepted his guilt and I got away with it. Never again!
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I said this would happen when the Chester Herald made all its subs redundant.
I wrote to Hollyoaks about this many, many times but all I got was a letter from their solicitor telling me not to go to the studio again.
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Creative licence – leaving on the subs and journalists weeping!
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disgraceful. sack someone. Oh wait, it’s fiction. It’s so difficult to tell the difference nowadays.
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I have seen similar in newspapers, not so brazen but along the lines of ‘a man has been charged after the death of so and so – who was found murdered in her house last week’.
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Remember Arthur Fowler in EasteEnders? Got done for theft or something.
After his arrest, the Walford Gazette splash headline… ‘I didn’t do it, Mrs Hewitt.’
Good headline, despite the contempt.
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So does that mean the mortgage guide is fiction as well?
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Where as the real Chester Chronicle is writing about a lad who found a tube station drawing app and doodled his own for the city…. #content
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I used to be in charge of the Chester Herald & Post. Happy days.
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