A strange title to this blog post you may think but there is a connection, a royal connection. There are 2 photographs of Prince Harry playing strip billiards in Las Vegas that were published on the American gossip website TMZ . If you look at the Guido Fawkes blog he also publishes the 2 photographs.
The TMZ website is celebrity gossip but Guido Fawkes is a political blogger and he highlights the big problem. Playing billiards naked is not a problem, just a bit of harmless fun between consenting adults. What is not fun is that Clarence House has leaned on all the British press asking them not to republish these photographs.
This restriction by the Palace to restrict press freedom really stinks. Our press must be free to publish what it wants, otherwise it is nothing more than a government mouthpiece. This is a bad day for freedom of speech and the implications affect everyone. You have to draw the line somewhere and if the press are persuaded not to publish some fun party photographs, then the whole public are being treated like mugs. Respect from the public is earned over time and the attitude of both Clarence House and the press leads the public to distrust them.
What else are the press keeping from us?
There are too many gagging orders and other restrictions around. This is a nasty trend and employers are catching on by stopping employees writing about their workplace on social media websites. The net is drawing in and by the press not republishing these 2 photographs, slowly but surely freedom of speech is being eroded.
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