I remember soon after the tragic murder of Jo Yeates in December
that the media wanted it to end as quickly as an episode of
Midsomer Murders
so in true journalistic style I remember them seizing upon the arrest of the landlord
who by all accounts fitted the TV detective show model
a quiet, shy and retiring bearded academic
ergo loner, a mysterious recluse, definite murderer material
so i remember them seizing upon him and doing such a good job of
a character assassination
that it nearly jeopardised the whole courts process
and now it strikes me that as he was released on bail
and we never heard of him again
and that now they have arrested and charged someone else
that says something about the whole judging another person thing
and we can‘t just blame the media for because we lap it up
we love a good murder mystery
and forget there’s real people involved
and this seems a good example of why Jesus said that in this new world called the
kingdom of heaven
we try not to judge others unfairly
or even at all
because we also will be judged in the same way
and I don’t think we would much like that
and once we have judged it is very hard to unjudge
and every now and then we need a timely reminder.
i know I do.
the blog of kevin 
Nathan Tomlinson, Ciara Richards and Natalie Bailey all went missing on or around the date that Jo Yeates disappeared. But, unlike Jo Yeates, their cases have attracted little or no publicity. What has happened to them is, as far as I am aware, still unknown.
They weren’t young, white, blond and middle-class females, of course.
Those who judge what is newsworthy and what isn’t distort so much of what we focus on or disregard, don’t they?
You are right, we all need the reminder because if we didn’t support them the media wouldn’t do it and the media have become judge and jury in so many cases. So this weekend we see a politician forced to resign because his wife is accused of having an affair. How does that affect his ability to do his job, but the holier than thou media would hound him out so he goes. We see a civil servant with no charges against him forced to resign, ironically by the very press he used to work for supposedly trying to stand up for justice.
We see mob rule and kangaroo courts in the press and yet we want to give even more freedom to the Murdoch empire because we like lurid headlines and sordid TV. But don’t blame Murdoch or the press, look in the mirror because we don’t stand up against it and we continue to buy the papers. I hated what the Daily Telegraph did to Vince Cable and others by putting up fake constituents to talk to them in their surgeries and by lying force them to say more than they should. It was immoral. But did I stop buying the paper – no I like the crossword, and that about says it all.
I’m so glad you wrote this.
I haven’t been able to get thee landlord out of my mind since the recent arrest of the other guy.
I keep wondering how he’s doing… whether he’ll ever recover from his ‘assassination’.
And yes, we are all guilty.
‘Forgive us Father for we know not what we do’ springs to mind.
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