Which public figures have been mistreated by the media?

[JamSandle]

The two that automatically spring to me are Princess Diana who died due to the paparazzi and Britney Spears who was built up to be knocked down.

More recently the hatred against Meghan.

Who do you think has been hounded by press past or present?

Yes JK Rowling and myriad academics who have spoken on gender critical issues

Are there countries where this doesn’t happen? Genuine question.

It’s horrific.

Interesting also that the majority of examples are female. Perfectly illustrates how the public space women are allowed to exist in and the rules they must follow are so different than for men.

Ben Stokes- the media attempted to do some kind of expose on a family tragedy from before he was born. Incredibly sad and painful for his family and nothing to do with him or cricket!

Boris Johnson

Agree with Diane Abbott - I'm not a fan of her but she is no less capable than plenty of other so-so MPs who don't get called out for it because they're not black women.

Amber Heard - just queued up to add to the 'obviously a liar' narrative because it sells and she doesn't do as well in a popularity contest against Jonny Depp

Joanna Lees - if anyone remembers this case; Lees was portrayed as suspicious and 'off' because she happened to be a slightly spikey personality and wasn't super emotional in the aftermath of managing to escape the man who murdered her partner

Joanna Lees, yes and Amanda Knox.

Although it was perhaps the Italian police and judiciary that were the main instigators in AK's case.

The McCanns, the Dowlers - just horrific. Also Jeremy Corbyn - never did really find out what he was really about, as the press was just so universally vile about him.

Claudia Lawrence - an independent young woman who went missing and was vilified in the press for her 'modern lifestyle'.

Back in the 70s and 80s, Prince Charles.
It was considered absolutely fine to mock him for his appearance when he was a young man, which can’t have been an easy thing to grow up with. William and Harry got it very lightly in comparison (which is just as well given how much else they had to deal with.)

Looking over the posts on this thread has made me realise, papers these days are less likely to mock someone simply for their appearance than in the 1970s but the real nastiness comes when they decide they can cast someone as bad and attack them self righteously.

I’m not sure the paparazzi were totally to blame for Diana’s death, they probably were to an extent and they shouldn’t have been chasing her but it is important to remember she was in a car driven by a drunk driver and she had no seatbelt on which and the car unfortunately lost control at a high speed and smashed into a concrete wall.

If she had been wearing a seatbelt and the driver wasn’t drunk and they had still crashed and she died, I would probably say it was totally on the paparazzi .

Yes. He got off too lightly!!

Chris Jefferies, Joanna Yates landlord who was wrongly arrested on suspicion of her murder.
He hasn't done anything wrong but he had eccentric hair and he was subjected to an appalling character assassination by the media. Which really damaged his reputation and I'd imagine changed his life.
Plus at the time it felt like it completely overshadowed the fact that a woman had lost her life.