Monthly Archives: September 2012

Really?

REALLY?

Publisher Richard Desmond says he will cut ties with the Irish Daily Star after it printed topless photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge. The newspaper – joint-published by Mr Desmond’s Northern and Shell group – printed several photographs of the Duchess sunbathing while on holiday.
The pictures appeared on pages six and seven of Saturday’s edition.
Daily Star Sunday editor Gareth Morgan told Sky News: “We’re absolutely horrified here in the office, and as a company. This has no merit as an editorial decision, it has no merit morally, it’s frankly a horrible decision.”

Newspaper Boss Anger Over Topless Pictures (SKY)

 

Desmond is convinced he has the power to shut down the whole operation, given that he owns the British title. Insiders believe he has already instructed lawyers to begin the necessary legal action to terminate publication. Its website remained down on Saturday evening. Desmond’s company, Northern & Shell, co-owns the Irish Daily Star with the Dublin-based Independent News & Media (INM).

Desmond To Close Irish Star (Roy Greenslade and Josh Layton, Guardian)

 

A spokesperson for Independent News and Media, the co-owner of the Irish Daily Star, has said “it was regrettable and in poor taste”, that the newspaper published the pictures.He said that “Independent News and Media had no prior knowledge of the decision to publish” the pictures.
Irish Daily star editor Michael O’ Kane defended the publication.
“I did this as a service to our readers, I’m a little taken aback by the reaction in the UK,” Mr O’Kane told the BBC earlier today.
“It only seems to be an issue in the UK because she is your future queen. But from our point of view in Ireland, Kate Middleton is just another of the fantastic line of celebrities.”

Irish Daily Star Owners ‘To Close Down Joint Venture’ Over Middleton Pictures (RTE)

Desmond, eh?

He scored a breakthrough in 1983 by persuading Bob Guccione to award him the licence to publish Penthouse magazine in Britain. Desmond persuaded Menzies and WH Smith to sell his expanding range of magazines. Overnight, he became one of Britain’s biggest porn publishers and the provider of hugely profitable sex chatlines.

RIchard Desmond: The Porn King’s Coup (Tom Bower, Guardian, July 2010) 

Pic via Kevin Purcell

Redditor mard86 received an email from a colleague explaining that he would be late for work because he was trying to ‘untie a squirrel tail knot’. When asked for a picture, the above snap arrived along with the following explanation:

I was pressed into squirrel rescue this morning on my way out. 5 young squirrels got tangled in Christmas lights in my neighbor’s yard. We got the lights off, but now their tails are one big knot, so I have to bring them into a rescue place to untie them, as I am unequipped to untie squirrel tail knots. I should be in this afternoon.

dailywh.at/dangerousminds

Until the release of Innocence of Muslims, the 65-year-old Roberts has had an unremarkable career as a small-time director and editor. His directing credits include some softcore porn from the 70s and 80s like 1977’s Young Lady Chatterly, The Sexpert and The Happy Hooker Goes to Hollywood, third of the Happy Hooker trilogy. (It’s probably no coincidence that the cast included at least two porn stars.) Roberts tried to break into action in 1991 with Karate Cop: “John Travis is the last honest cop in a future dominated by terroristic martial-arts gangs who fight gladiator-style in arenas.”

Confirmed: The Director of Innocence of Muslims Is A Schlocky Softcore Porn Director Named Alan Roberts (Gawker)

Protests against anti-Islam film spread; assaults on US, Western embassies and peacekeepers (Washington Post)