Campaign group Hacked Off has questioned the ‘media blackout’ around recent Dan Wootton allegations that have come to light this week.
Research shows that the Huw Edwards story generated 24 articles in the press in the first 24 hours after breaking, despite the star remaining unnamed until later in the week.
In contrast, in the 24 hours after Byline Times broke allegations of wrongdoing made against Dan Wootton, just ONE article appeared about him in the same newspapers.
The newspapers reviewed were The Times, The Telegraph, The Mirror, The Sun, The Guardian and The Daily Mail.
The 24 hour period reviewed was from the time of publication of The Sun’s initial story on Edwards, and Byline Times’ initial story on Wootton.
Commenting on the discrepancy in coverage, Hacked Off CEO Nathan Sparkes said: “Almost a fortnight ago, a poorly substantiated story in The Sun which referred to lawful interactions between two consenting adults, including a man who reads the news, sent the British press into meltdown.
“This week far more serious and better substantiated allegations were made, about a man who has made a career out of scrutinising the lifestyle decisions of those in the public eye, and they have been met with almost total silence.
“Indeed our research shows that in the first 24 hours after the story broke, there appears to have been a media blackout across the nationals, with independent publisher Byline Times a lone voice seeking to report on allegations of wrongdoing against a man within the newspaper industry.
“This is further evidence that the British national press cannot be trusted to report on allegations of wrongdoing and scandal within its own industry”.
Corr: An earlier version of this article suggested there were no major newspapers covering the allegations against Dan Wootton. This has been corrected to reflect that the Guardian published an article about the case.
