Roy Greenslade asks a good question in the Guardian:
"..why, I wonder, was The Guardian the only national paper to report on the fact that former News of the World football reporter Matt Driscoll was awarded almost £792,736 for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination by an employment tribunal?"
It's a rhetorical question to a large degree as Greenslade's appraisal of the situation goes on to make some excellent and some obvious points.
Newsworthy
The one fact of which we can be certain though is they didn't duck it on grounds of newsworthiness. How do we know? Well here's a sample of similar stories with far smaller pay-outs than the News of the World's near-£800,000 pay-out that still made it into the now-silent media. In the case of the first story the pay out was a whopping, er, £0. In the case of the second it was a mighty £9,000:
1. Spiritualist sacked by police wins ruling over his faith in psychics The Times
2. Disabled student wins employment tribunal against Abercrombie & Fitch The Telegraph
3. Lesbian soldier sees £190,000 harassment payout cut by a third The Telegraph
4. Gay postman gets £2400 for sex bias The Mirror
5. Muslim wins in £4k scarf row The Sun
You get the picture...
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