There was an interesting story on Fox News online yesterday. I found out about it from Hemant Mehta's Friendly Atheist blog and think it's worth repeating here too:
Barman Steven Relf, 40, was jailed indefinitely after admitting raping two women he targeted when he served them drinks in a pub.
Police branded him a "sexual predator" and said he could have had as many as 40 victims.
In a letter to an inmates' magazine, Relf wrote: "I recently had the displeasure of sharing a cell with a Bible-thumping believer."
A source said Relf was "furious" at having to share at Manchester Prison with the Christian convict and wanted him to be "evicted".
He said: "He moaned about how the guy wouldn't shut up about God. He said he wanted to speak to a lawyer about his rights so he could be moved cells."
The other inmate was later transferred.
In his blog essay about it Hemant says that, while he has no sympathy for rapists of any creed (I agree. I think that, if anything, they ought to put more bible-thumpers in with him... and maybe a mullah or two for good measure), there are a few other things about the story that are worth pointing out.
One, of course, is the implication that being locked in a small room with a Bible-thumper is a cruel punishment. I don't think you have to be an atheist to feel that way. In fact, I suspect that, except for other Bible-thumpers (and maybe even for some of them), it's a fate nearly anyone would chew their own leg off to avoid.
Then there's the bias shown in the reporting: We're given the details of the alleged atheist's crimes but what was the Bible-thumper in for? (Maybe he was a serial preacher who locked himself into small rooms with his victims and drove them insane with his Bible-thumping).
Incidently, I call the rapist an "alleged" atheist because nowhere in the story does it say how they know that he was one. As Hemant puts it: "They call him an atheist. Based on what? They don’t say. Because he complained about a Bible-thumping roommate? Well, who wouldn’t?"
This is pretty sloppy reporting but, in this case, that's not Fox News' fault. Their only crime is that they didn't bother doing anything except repeat verbatim something they got from a British tabloid newspaper. That's right; a tabloid.
Now The Sun is no ordinary tabloid. Rupert Murdoch (who also owns the Fox Network) built it up to be the 2nd highest circulation paper in the UK and it does actually publish news. It's just that the way stories are spun makes it look (and read) like the tabloids you find next to the supermarket checkout in this country. Here's some sample news blurbs from the same edition the atheist rapist story appeared in. They have a humor section called Sun Lite, but these are all taken from other sections:
Boobs & bubbly boost recovery. BRITAIN is being pulled out of recession – as we quaff fizz and visit lap-dance clubs. (from their finance section)
Talk about a right royal pain. A TOT holds his head after getting bumped – by Camilla’s rump during London visit. (from their section on the royal family)
Wills' brush with Nude Zealand. PRINCE William came face-to-face with the All Blacks rugby team and they were all NAKED. (ditto)
The point I want to make here isn't about whether or not the story about the atheist rapist is true. It probably is. But how much reliance can you put in stories from a tabloid where subject matter and journalistic standards come in a distant second to grabbing your eye or your crotch? Some people accuse Fox News of biased reporting. Heck, some accuse me of it too, but as far as rootin-tootin', hit-em-below-the-belt yellow journalism goes, we're both pikers compared to The Sun.
I won't say that there aren't some good things about The Sun though. I wouldn't mind if, someday, I picked up a copy of the Los Angeles Times or the Wall Street Journal and found Page 3 girls in them too.
Photo Credit:
1) January 2005 cover of The Sun (source: Wikipedia)
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Comments
Yeah that cel-mate of his was probably driving him up the wall telling him to repent, to turn from his wicked ways, to confess his sin and to ask God for forgiveness. "Unbearable! Unthinkable! Get him out of here! I deserve something better than this!" Like castration? I for one am sick of how much money we spend on people in jail. They hurt, rob, maime, steal, violate, rape, etc. and we the victims provide a roof over their head, 3 meals a day, access to lawyers, and more?! It's not college, and we are not their parents, and they should not get to choose their room-mates. He didn't like the guy - tough!
Hey, you have a posting glitch in here:
"Here's some sample news blurbs from the same edition the atheist rapist story appeared in. They have a humor section called Sun Lite, but these are all taken from other sections:
An atheist rapist has complained that his human rights were breached by having to share a prison cell with a Christian inmate. Here's some sample news blurbs from the same edition the atheist rapist story appeared in. They have a humor section called Sun Lite, but these are all taken from other sections: "
Thanks for the heads-up, Carrie. I've (hopefully) corrected the problem,
The Sun is indeed a dirty rag, like our National Enquirer (I do hate that the Philly paper is Inquirer and people mix them up, the Phila paper is top-notch).
That said, I agree with you - if the story is true and he is guilty, I say load him up with bible-babbling/Koran kvetching criminals. They deserve one another. He lost his 'free ear zone' rights the first time he forced himself on someone.
My husband works in NYC for a major network news show, and he'll be the first to tell you that network news has gone tabloid. It cam be disgusting the things that they report and the way that they report them. Not long ago I watched a morning show put a young boy (maybe 10/11) on the news to interview him about how his brother had lit another child on fire. Talk about exploiting someone.
As long as the inmate is in no danger of physical harm, I say tough luck for him if he doesn't like it - no matter anyone involved's religious/non-religious status. It's prison, not whiny-baby camp.
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