Sport Newspaper Shut down – Another Step against pornification – Object
Sport Newspaper: Ceases Trading
On April 1st, after months of financial difficulty, the Daily and Sunday Sport Newspapers ceased publication, with their parent company, Sport Media Group, facing liquidation.
OBJECT previously described The Sport ‘as a notice board for the sex industry’. Our analysis showed dozens of ‘page 3′ images and 1,000s of graphic ads for the sex and porn industry. This could involve up to 500 one line ads per page. These ads included national directories of massage parlours, sex shops and cinemas. Even the front covers, which specialised in ‘up skirt’ shots of celebrities, featured ads for hard core pornography.
“During our 2006 campaign, The Sport Challenge, OBJECT sent copies of the Sport to every MP in the House of Commons asking why it was being sold as a newspaper. At the time the newspaper featured the ‘adventurous romps’ of the necrohpilic murderer of Jane Longhurst. MP assistants were so shocked that they thought they had been sent hard core pornography by a sexual psychopath.” Dr Sasha Rakoff, CEO OBJECT.
The off-shot of our campaign were new codes over how The Sport and lad’s mags should be displayed in shops. Within the last month, 5 years after the codes were issued, leading retailers finally agreed to adhere to them with respect to lads’ mags – promising to place them on the top shelf away from children. It appears, retailers never took up the code’s recommendations over the display of ‘offensive’ newspapers.
“This is another welcome step against the pornification of our society – following hot on the heels of a ‘top shelf’ policy for lads’ mags and an end to ads for the sex industry in Government Job Centres.
But we cannot be complacent. Media regulation is so weak that there is nothing to prevent another Sport.
It also cannot be forgotten that Tony Livesey, the Editor of the Sport for the last 20 years and the man who oversaw its morphing into pornography, enjoys semi-celebrity status and now works for the BBC. Whilst it’s former owner, David Sullivan, who made his fortune from pornography and sex shops is now of course the owner of West Ham United. And of course, The Sport was backed by national institutes, such as the Royal Bank of Scotland, with a ‘comittment to .. a strong ethical culture’ ” Dr Sasha Rakoff.
More Information:
Contact OBJECT at ido@object.org.uk
Find out more about the Sport here http://www.object.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=44&Itemid=61&phpMyAdmin=434389b7797bbb375d2d62203fa2df74
Find our more about OBJECT’s campaign against the Sport and Lad’s mags here http://www.object.org.uk/campaigns/ladsmags
