Gary Lineker had less problem with lying tabloids when he worked for the Mail
WHEN the Daily Star read an interview Gary Lineker had conducted with Readers’ Digest it transcribed it as the front-page screamer: “Lineker: England team are losers.”
Lineker read that. He was outraged, taking to Twitter:
“Headline in tomorrow’s Daily Star is a disgrace. I never said ‘England team are losers’. Please change late editions. #outrageous”
And
“Is it any surprise the Newspaper industry is dying? How can they use a front page headline that is complete fabrication? If anyone has a recording of me uttering the words ‘England team are losers’ I’ll resign. Daily Star #changethefrontpage.”
Lineker later tweeted that Daily Star editor Dawn Neesom had apologised. That followed Lineker tweeting that he’d received a text from the Star saying: “Only says this in the headline, the story itself does not suggest this is your quote.”
It’s all entertaining stuff based on Lineker’s tongue-in-cheek comment:
“It might make a pleasant change that our expectations for the team are rather low this year. But I reckon we’ll end up disappointed as usual…As England invariably let you down it’s great to have the Games to look forward to. They’re an amazing showpiece for the nation and we’re really good at putting on a spectacle. Also, the host country tends to up its game, so I think we’ll break all our records and win a lot of medals.”
The Star has cynically manipulated the words to from an alluring headline. This the paper of record that told us that Simon Cowell was “DEAD“. The Star issues a small, non-apology apology:
“Gary Lineker has asked us to point out that his remarks about England…were meant as a lighthearted jocular reference to how overexcited we get at our prospects before a big tournament…”
That’s not exactly an apology, is it. It’s just an explanation that makes it sound as if Lineker is sorry that his words were misconstrued.
NOTE: This is, of course, Gary Lineker who when he’s not advocating the benefits of sport and exercise is selling crisps. Lineker also used to write for the Mail, which during his period of employment featured the wholly biased and misleading front-page headline: “CLEGG IN NAZI SLUR ON BRITAIN”, a story based on news that Nick Clegg – at the time the LibDem leader looked set to damage the Tories in the General Election – has said the country needed to move on. Lineker never commented on that.
Posted: 22nd, May 2012 | In: Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
