O/T Author of 'fuck you' letter fired
Billie
John Arlidge
The Observer
It was only 14 letters buried in the heart of an obscure editorial about the
joys of free range tomatoes. Only the most sharp-eyed readers would have
spotted it. But by yesterday afternoon a five-paragraph article in the Daily
Express was the talk of the media, the Cabinet and even Buckingham Palace.
'Let organic farms flourish' contained a hidden but unmistakable message. The
first letter of each sentence spelt out F-u-c-k-y-o-u-D-e-s-m-o-n-d. It was the
kind of message the combative Richard Desmond, new owner of the Express, would
have been proud of - if it were not in his own paper.
Desmond, who also publishes OK! and top-shelf titles including Big, Black and
Forty Plus, bought the Express in November prompting a wave of departures among
senior staff who fear the new boss will drag the paper down market.
Yesterday's article is thought to have been penned by chief editorial writer
Stephen Pollard. He quit on Friday to join the Times .
The story cheered staff. 'With the number of people rushing for the exit over
the next few weeks Desmond is going to be permanently bent over the news pages
checking out every story,' said one.
* * *
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,419174,00.html
MediaGuardian.co.uk
A cheeky message hidden in a Daily Express editorial at the weekend may have
amused the media world and infuriated the paper's new proprietor, but it
appears to have landed its author in more trouble than he bargained for.
Stephen Pollard, the Express's outgoing chief leader writer, penned what most
readers took for an innocent exposition of the paper's support for organic
farming. But close observation revealed that the first letter of each sentence
spelled a rather nasty rebuke to Richard Desmond, the paper's owner.
The columnist joked at the weekend that it was an "amazing coincidence", but
his new employers at the Times appear not to have seen the funny side. Bosses
will meet today to discuss whether Mr Pollard is the sort of person they want
to set loose on their readers. "It's a very serious matter," one Times
executive said yesterday. Mr Pollard's position at the newspaper is, at best,
uncertain.
Saturday's Express editorial, Mr Pollard's last, contained 14 sentences. The
first letter of the first four spelled what one Sunday newspaper described
yesterday as "an Anglo-Saxon expletive more commonly found on the lips of Liam
Gallagher than in the paper that was once the voice of Queen, country and
empire". The next three gave "Y-O-U" and the final seven spelled
"D-E-S-M-O-N-D".
Mr Pollard had resigned from the Express in disgust at Mr Desmond's involvement
in pornographic magazines, and was due to join the Times as a columnist and
leader writer. He said of his prank at the weekend: "Somebody has just pointed
it out to me. I had no idea." His words may come back to haunt him: Peter
Stothard, editor of the Times, returns today from sick leave and will discuss
Mr Pollard's position with other executives.
It is not the first time that such subversion has been perpetrated upon
newspapers. In 1990, a Charles Griffin cartoon in the Daily Mirror contained an
expletive directed at the paper's then publisher, Robert Maxwell, scrawled in
small writing in the background.
In the early 1980s, a departing night editor concealed a message similar to Mr
Pollard's among headlines in a column of news items on the Northern Echo's
front page.
Mr Pollard's piece of skulduggery sits impressively alongside these
predecessors - but it appears notoriety can come at a high price.
* * *
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,419555,00.html
MediaGuardian.co.uk
It must have seemed so clever to conceal a crude rebuke to the Daily Express's
controversial proprietor in his final, florid editorial, but departing
columnist Stephen Pollard must now be wishing that it was all just a bad dream.
His new employers, the Times, last night confirmed they were sacking Mr Pollard
before he had even started.
George Brock, managing editor of the Times, said: "We have spoken to Stephen
Pollard today and we are not proceeding with his contract to work with us."
The decision was taken by the paper's editor, Peter Stothard, who returned from
a period of sick leave to take back the reins yesterday. Mr Pollard, who was to
join the Times as a leader writer and commentator, was told of the unfortunate
development by telephone.
Mr Pollard's expensive entry in the annals of journalism was made on Saturday
when, in an apparently innocuous commentary on the virtues of organic farming,
he made clear his feelings for the new Express owner, Richard Desmond. The
first letters of each sentence spelled out the message "fuck you Desmond".
At first, Mr Pollard appeared smug about his prank, joking to Sunday newspapers
that the acrostic was "an amazing coincidence". He must have been regretting
his words yesterday: perhaps understandably, he was not saying much.
While some at the Times feel executives have had a "sense of humour failure",
others said Mr Pollard's actions at the Express were inappropriate for a leader
writer on a serious newspaper. One Times executive pointed out that, while Mr
Pollard expressed his frustration at Mr Desmond, there are many who believe
that the News International boss Rupert Murdoch "is the devil incarnate". Mr
Murdoch would not, it was suggested, take kindly to being insulted in the pages
of his own newspaper.
Mr Pollard was among the first of several high-profile departures from the
Express after the takeover by Northern & Shell, publishers of the celebrity and
soft porn titles OK! and Asian Babes.
He was offered a job on the Times as a columnist and leader writer on health
policy issues in early December. Mr Brock confirmed that contracts had been
signed by both the Times and Mr Pollard. It is not clear whether Mr Pollard
will receive a payoff.
~~You're just jellus because the voices are talking to me and not you!~
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