Friday 24 August 2012

Naked Harry pics: What would Michael Gove say?


With The Sun publishing those Prince Harry snaps and allegedly striking a blow for press freedom in the process, we might wonder what Education Secretary Michael Gove thinks on the matter.

After all, Mr Gove's defiant Leveson appearance was well received by the newspapers whose rights he purported to champion.

So what are we to make of his comments from 2008, regarding a different set of publications?

"We should ask those who make profits out of revelling in, or encouraging, selfish irresponsibility among young men what they think they're doing.

"The relationship between these titles and their readers is a relationship in which the rest of us have an interest."

He was of course talking about lads' mags such as Nuts. But his words have some resonance in today's context.

Reading back over Gove's comments years later it seems odd that he has gone from criticising one set of publishers for the negative social effects of their work, to championing the right to offend.

The two are of course not incompatible. He may dislike Nuts, Zoo and wish their content was otherwise, but he  did not call for them to be regulated.

It just seems that he can bewail the moral impact on society of one set of publishers yet refuse to pass judgement on the behaviour of another set.

Wonder when he will next return to this theme?

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