# Can we say "Ryan Giggs"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 21, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-ryan-giggs/582712 "2011-05-21T20:25:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-ryan-giggs/582712/41 "2011-05-22T22:24:24Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > So in effect, the media can just decide to end the career of anyone by printing anything personal and private, great way to have freedom. > > By the way, freedom means the right to choose a career. > > If you want to be a moralising politician, then fine, you have to behave since you are setting a personal example and may well be involved in legislation, but a footballer? Not so much. > > Maybe we can report on your little doings publicly, there is always some slant we can put on it to make you look like a hypocrite or a pervert. > > You see, its not just that you don’t have the right to snoop into the business of others without good reason, you forget that when the media report it, they can promote the story in any way they choose, from sympathy through to the aslacious, you don’t create or control your image, and you don’t get to choose just what manner is useed to report your story. > > Still feel like putting your whole life in the hands of the media? I share you admirable and robust distaste of that section of the media. No sarcasm at all here, I have nothing but contempt for the tabloid press believe me. Scum the lot of them. Nor do I have any interest in the bedroom antics of consenting adults. I don’t have to worry about them printing stories about my affairs though as I am not interesting enough. (I take the added precaution of not sleeping around though). But interestingly you already have made a distinction between politicians and other people. Do you extend your thinking to celebrities who do act as hypocrites? who do moralise? How about a football manager who drops a player due to off-field antics and yet does exactly the same himself? etc. etc. etc. etc. I think we either have a press that is free to publish as it sees fit (and be rightly sued if the courts rule it to be lies), or we say we don’t publish at all, or we say it is OK for group A but not group B, or we micro-manage every single case knowing that the internet, international press and social media make the law look like an ass. (and by the way ensure that injunctions are only the preserve of the rich). I’ll choose the first option and live with the (admittedly sometimes tawdry) consequences. Remember, the real villains here, alongside the gutter press are those that buy it and so finance it. If every time a stupid story like this surfaced, the circulation figures went down, then the practice would soon stop. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-ryan-giggs/582712/42 "2011-05-22T22:35:01Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Besides, these sort of injunctions are an anachronism in the modern world. If they can’t be enforced, they shouldn’t exist - otherwise they’re just a mockery of the law. We are seeing the death throes, I think. Giggs has been really badly advised here. If the story had came out normally, it would have been chip-wrapping in a couple of days (and tbh the blackmail elements alluded to by M’lud in granting the injunction would have led to a more sympathetic view by the general public). Schillings have fucked up here, from a PR point of view, and also making a really fucking basic mistake ie England and Wales /= United Kingdom, legally. Whether anyone has the right or expectation to know any of this, I don’t know. It’s a shame that it has fallen to Giggs to be the straw that broke the back, it really should have been Trafigura, or Fred Goodwin, the latter two injunctions broken by MPs under Parliamentary privilege. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-ryan-giggs/582712/43 "2011-05-23T16:14:11Z")
He has now been named in Parliament, and the BBC is mentioning his name in their [news reports](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13503847). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-ryan-giggs/582712/44 "2011-05-23T17:07:04Z")
I don’t understand why people are so worked up about the so-called “gutter press”. Haven’t you guys heard? The printed newspaper is dead - circulation is way down, and advertising profits are a fraction of what they used to be. People get their gossip today from Twitter, Facebook and TMZ, not from the Sun, Mirror and whatnot. The Ryan Giggs case is one of their last gasps for relevancy. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-ryan-giggs/582712/45 "2011-05-23T17:20:18Z")
This has been described as ‘privacy for the rich’, which may be acurrate, selective justice is poor justice. The idea of allowing the media to publsih and be sued is flawed, precisely because of money.If you are unfortunate enough to become the subject of media attention, most ordinary folk simply do not have the means to defend temselves through legal action, it is a hugely asymmetrical fight. You get cases where individualls have been caught in the media crossfire, get doorstepped for weeks and their lives badly disrupted. If any restrictions to the media are made, it will be because it can’t be trusted to behave responsibly. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-ryan-giggs/582712/46 "2011-05-23T17:42:14Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > You get cases where individualls have been caught in the media crossfire, get doorstepped for weeks and their lives badly disrupted. If any restrictions to the media are made, it will be because it can’t be trusted to behave responsibly. A prime example is that of that poor guy in Bristol who was briefly taken into custody over the murder of Jo Yeats . His life was made hell by the tabloids becuase of his slightly eccentric lifestyle. It turns out he was completely innocent. He his now suing four tabloids for libel, and two of the papers are also facing contempt of court charges. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-ryan-giggs/582712/47 "2011-05-23T19:28:32Z")
There has been a new high court ruling today. The press can now name Ryan Giggs, but only if they make it sound like a sneeze. It’s a great victory for democracy. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-ryan-giggs/582712/48 "2011-05-23T21:53:19Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > Its all British big tits and bums… I’m all for British big tits and bums! Gigg(itty)! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-ryan-giggs/582712.md?page=2)