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Jade Goody's imminent demise

Should this stuff really be on the front page of any serious publication?

In the words of Nolly, discuss.....
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Comments

  • Ive been saying this for the last 2 weeks! Feel sorry for her and its good that it has brought attention to people that it can happen at any age and that they should get screened regularly but quite honestly news can be depressing enough without watching someone die day by day on the front page of your daily rag.
  • All she is doing is raising money for her kids after she is gone so good on her
  • edited February 2009
    It sells papers so the answer is not to buy them. But, much as I can't stand her or the cult of celebrity, it is a tragedy that has led to a large increase in the number of young women having cervical smears. If it raises awareness and protects young women from what is a sexually transmitted cancer that can be prevented or successfully treated when detected early, then it will have been worthwhile.
  • edited February 2009
    [cite]Posted By: stilladdicted[/cite]It sells papers so the answer is not to buy them. But, much as I can't stand her or the cult of celebrity, it is a tragedy that has led to a large increase in the number of young women having cervical smears. If it raises awareness and help prevent more deaths from what is a sexually transmitted cancer that can be prevented or successfully treated when detected early, then it will have been worthwhile.

    Agreed....I hate to see any person...particularly one so so young and with kids die.
    Hope the media scrum will allow her and the family some dignity.....I have my doubts
  • well done Still addickted TOOK THE WORDS OUT OF MY MOUTH AND said it a bit more eloquenlty than I would have because this post pissed me off no end....
  • [cite]Posted By: Ledge[/cite]well done Still addickted TOOK THE WORDS OUT OF MY MOUTH AND said it a bit more eloquenlty than I would have because this post pissed me off no end....

    Pissed you off no end? How can someone asking a reasonable, intelligent question do that?

    I have enormous sympathy for the young lady involved and God knows my own family have suffered horrendously at the hands of that awful disease.

    SA has a fair point in saying that her story will raise awareness of cervical cancer amongst some young women, that is fair enough, but there is a broader question at play here.

    I have been thinking about this a lot and think that the coverage of this story in the Times, Independent, Guardian, Telegraph and even on BBC News is something of a watershed moment in British culture.

    Think back 25 years or so to the Page Three days when the likes of Sam Fox, Linda Lusardi and Kathy Lloyd (my personal fave) were household names amongst working class homes like ours who saw The Sun or The Mirror on a regular basis - the broadsheets or BBC NEVER covered these type of people, they just did not do it.

    Yet here we are in a situation where the intricate details of the life of a young lady who has done nothing of substance in her life apart from appear in two reality TV shows and thus become a "Celebrity" are being covered exhaustively right across the UK media, not just the tabs or mags where you would expect.

    I know there is a human interest angle here and I feel enormous sympathy for the people involved but the truth is that Jade Goody is not the only young mother in the UK battling cancer, there are hundreds more like her who will perish without so much as a line in their local freesheet.

    I can't help but partly agree with dear old Boris Johnson, not something I would normally do under any circumstances, and say that post-Diana the UK really has slipped into a culture of both grief to some degree and, without question, into one that places "celebrity" (however you define that these days) above all else.

    As for SoundAs's comment that "I hope the media scrum will allow her and the family some dignity" - that must win an award for unintentional irony given that the young lady concerned has Mr. Max Clifford on a very healthy retainer. I don't think he gets paid for providing privacy or dignity.
  • The whole thing - every single thing - makes me feel sick. There is no redeeming feature to any aspect of this situation at all.
  • Her getting married has just been reported as the LEAD STORY on BBC news.

    What is going on?

    OK, for the reasons addickted stated I can see how it might get on the news somewhere. But the lead story? Other people die of cancer all the time - should they all be on the front page?

    If not, why not?
  • Just said on news by a cancer trust that the number of women going for a smear test since this hoooooooo haa is up 20%, if it saves one life then all the shamltzy bullshit is worth it. I wont watch a second of the hog wash tho.
  • [cite]Posted By: Goonerhater[/cite]if it saves one life then all the shamltzy bullshit is worth it

    Exactly.

    All this moaning about stuff people don't like in papers/news, hey, easy solution, skip the pages you don't want to read.
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  • Ormiston the fact that you've had to write war and peace to justify your post says it all to me.

    It's pissed me off because it unnecessary ffs - the poor girl is dying from a cancer that if caught at very early stages amongst young woman from a smear can stop what is happening to Jade. And all you can say is should it be on the front page --- who cares what page it is on

    It's highlighting the cancer and giving a worse case scenario for all those silly young girls who ignore smear test letter and as SA said if it means they go and get it checked then the paper's have done the job.

    I agree with you she's a two bob celebrity but it all doesn't matter - she's earning money for her kids and good on her.

    I am passionate about this because the big c has been a blight on my family so I make no apologies for that.
  • What Ledge said.
  • I've got a lot of sympathy for her and her family having lost my Dad to the big C 3 years ago, but agree it's not front page news and that she is not a celebrity.
  • Karma anyone for the Big Brother Racism debacle? I bet that is the unspoken thought in many peolpes mind. And before anyone says that I am not taking the plight of Cancer seriously- my father-in-law and My brother's father-in-law have both been diagnosed with it in the last month and so good luck to her in raising awareness.
  • jeees

    Stubs that is a bit of a harsh thought,

    i havent thought of that

    however i am uncomfortable with the issue of death being so public but that is my own point of view not the right one or the wrong one

    good luck with your inlaws mate it is a fecking tough time ahead for you all
  • [cite]Posted By: stubs1310[/cite]Karma anyone for the Big Brother Racism debacle?

    Er...not at all comparable are they? She might be ill educated or even a racist but she hardly deserves to die because of a stupid comment made on a reality tv show does she? You could argue the case for someone like Peter Sutcliffe dying a horrible lingering death but a young mother like her I don't think so...
  • The only winner out this sham is Max Clifford. He's a parasite IMO much like football agents wanting their cut of everything.
  • [cite]Posted By: Les Addicks[/cite]
    [cite]Posted By: stubs1310[/cite]Karma anyone for the Big Brother Racism debacle?

    Er...not at all comparable are they? She might be ill educated or even a racist but she hardly deserves to die because of a stupid comment made on a reality tv show does she? You could argue the case for someone like Peter Sutcliffe dying a horrible lingering death but a young mother like her I don't think so...

    What Les said. As much as a deplore racism it should never be a capital offence.

    I feel for her and her family. That's it. All the rest of the media circus leaves me cold.
  • I'm not a man to wish death upon any person, and this is not different. I don't want the poor girl to die. I feel sorry for her, she is obviously going through something very tough, and I admire her for that, I just don't want to know about it.
  • Better than that Kerry Katona ....... I just don't get what she does to be famous.
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  • [cite]Posted By: stubs1310[/cite]Karma anyone for the Big Brother Racism debacle? I bet that is the unspoken thought in many peolpes mind. And before anyone says that I am not taking the plight of Cancer seriously- my father-in-law and My brother's father-in-law have both been diagnosed with it in the last month and so good luck to her in raising awareness.


    So being a bit thick deserves death now?



    [cite]Posted By: jollyrobin[/cite]I'm not a man to wish death upon any person, and this is not different. I don't want the poor girl to die. I feel sorry for her, she is obviously going through something very tough, and I admire her for that, I just don't want to know about it.

    But some people do and this going on WILL save lives, don't want to know, turn the page.
  • I find it very uncomfortable.

    I can't say I admired her but I cannot put into words how sorry I feel for the poor girl. And all those who think it is some sort of justice for being not the sharpest tool in the box frankly want to be ashamed of yourselves
  • FFS can someone really believe that geting cancer and dying at a young age is punishment for an insult that may or may not have been racist !!!!!!!
  • [cite]Posted By: Goonerhater[/cite]FFS can someone really believe that geting cancer and dying at a young age is punishment for an insult that may or may not have been racist !!!!!!!

    Evidently!
  • Anyone seen 'The Truman show'?

    Just about sums her life up.
  • I don't think my dad (stubs1310) didn't mean what he said i think he didn't mean to say about her dying. He was just suggesting that people may think this but my father is not one to slag people off that quickly.
    I do on his and my behalf wish Jade the best of luck and wishes to her family.
    Personaly i don't think these sort of diccusions should be happening on a football forum site.
  • [cite]Posted By: Ledge[/cite]Ormiston the fact that you've had to write war and peace to justify your post says it all to me.

    It's pissed me off because it unnecessary ffs - the poor girl is dying from a cancer that if caught at very early stages amongst young woman from a smear can stop what is happening to Jade. And all you can say is should it be on the front page --- who cares what page it is on

    It's highlighting the cancer and giving a worse case scenario for all those silly young girls who ignore smear test letter and as SA said if it means they go and get it checked then the paper's have done the job.

    I agree with you she's a two bob celebrity but it all doesn't matter - she's earning money for her kids and good on her.

    I am passionate about this because the big c has been a blight on my family so I make no apologies for that.

    War and Peace? Right.

    Unneccesary? So, we can't even DISCUSS in a measured way whether this really deserves saturation coverage in the press. When did the Thought Police and Moral Mafia decide on that one?

    From what I have heard, this young girl has been a target of huge derision in the past and is a bit of a soft target but I have not once criticised or her slated her personally, I feel for her and her family enormously but that's not the point.

    Everyone has had family suffer from cancer and mine have probably more than most with all four of my grandparents dying relatively young as well as my father-in-law at just 60.

    The only point I am trying to make is that this young lady's illness has now crossed over in a very significant way from being tabloid fodder to being a mainstream news story in the big end of town and a major international broadcaster like the BBC.

    That's quite amazing and worthy of comment in my book because it shows that the "Celebrity" culture that has boomed in Britain over the last decade or whatever it has been has now spread its tentacles right across the spectrum.

    I have worked in journalism for going on 20 years and appreciate the fact that for her story to make it to the broadsheets and the BBC would have meant a lot of serious Editors at these places having to eat large doses of humble pie to put a story like that into their publications in order to meet public "demand" for that type of content.

    For that alone I think this story is extremely significant no matter what people may think of the characters involved.
  • The story is a strange one. things generally are newsworthy because they don't often happen. Cancer, sadly, is not something that happens rarely.

    The story has become some kind of feedback loop with the almost saturation coverage on the tabloids meaning that the heavyweight media has to comment on it as it is now a big issue. However their coverage makes it an even bigger issue thus ramping the coverage to the next level.

    Jade herself is doing what she thinks she needs to do for his family and you can't condemn her for it at all. If turning a sad event into a circus if helping that happen then so be it. The only worry I would have is how being in such a spotlight will affect her children and how they cope with her death. The financial stability these events are bringing will never make up for growing up without their mother and whilst they may, in time, understand she did it for the best of reasons. I am concerned that they may resent the missed opportunity to come to terms with what is going to happen in peace and quiet.
  • I felt some sadness when I heard Jade Goody was terminally ill. She has young sons and she is young herself. And if her personal tragedy which is now public property encourages an increase in smear tests well and good.
    But Ormiston is not wrong, in my view, to make the point he has. Personally I feel uneasy about the whole business and it is impossible to avoid on any media at present.
    It feels like there is no subject that reality tv and the "celebrities" created by it cannot play out in public and that is something that ought to be questioned and discussed, in my view.
  • The trivialisation at the Beeb and elsewhere seems to be an attempt to attract a younger audience. There has been a steady clear out of the 'oldies' especially older women in news programmes and they have been replaced with empty headed muppets who look pretty. Or maybe it's just caught the general public at a depressed time and the portrayal of a young women in tragic circumstances reminds everyone that they've still got a lot to be grateful for. Certainly something more than the tabloid factor is playing here, so I think the point Ormiston is making is a very valid and interesting one.
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