Hipocrisy: The Daily Mail guns down comedy and freedom of expression

Short of wanting to turn this blog into a devotion to Daily Mail bashing, what is it with this paper's attraction toward the demise of the BBC, comedy and Freedom of Expression?

Little more than a fortnight since the infamous Jan Moir publication, which even gained a mention on Question Time, The Mail displays the dials of its moral compass are still working by hounding comedian's for apologies and calling upon their resignation for making jokes,  admittedly offensive ones. Is this familiar Mail approach not clearly hypocritical now in light of recent events?

An article about a "Repentant Jimmy Carr" illustrates the full force of The Mail's agenda; to hush up those who tread on the toes of public decency. In addition to one-sided, hand picked sources, the article is riddled with unnecessary reminders of the 'Sachsgate' affair as The Mail mounts its lobbying pressures against the BBC through tedious links. In case you weren't aware, "Carr is a friend of TV presenter Jonathan Ross, who was last year suspended by the BBC following a row over obscene phone calls...to actor Andrew Sachs" didn't you know? He's a co-conspirator, a comedian sympathiser and to be rounded up and tied to the stake where we will all not laugh at him. Well, maybe if this were an old fashioned witch hunt he would be.

Implicitly, Jan Moir and The Daily Mail used the Freedom of Expression argument, which Bonnie Greer uses in the above Question Time clip, to defend themselves for publishing their article. And rightly so. In my opinion, a regulated world with stringent rules on avoiding offensive would be pretty boring and dangerous, Yet, as The Mail takes with one hand, they are expected to give with the other; they should recognise that Freedom of Expression is also a necessary liberty to be granted to comedians.

If Jan Moir can defend that, "it was perfectly reasonable of me to comment upon the manner of Stephen Gately's death, even if there are those who think that his celebrity and sexuality make him untouchable", then why can't Frankie Boyle defend his right to make inappropriate jokes about a celebrity like Rebecca Adlington - after all that's just his opinion. In case you are yet to read it, this is the latest installment of what we are being told to be offended about by The Mail. Alternatively, you can view the clip and miss out the regurgitation of hapless spoon quotes.

We are told the Adlington row "will reopen the debate over the BBC's handling of its top-paid entertainers and how far comedians should be allowed to go." What The Daily Mail really meant to say is that they will reopen the debate through their publication of this article and similar articles in the past 7-days, such as the one on Carr's amputee joke (which was not featured on television).

I do not deny that Adlington has a right to complain about the offensive joke. Just as Gately's family has a right to complain about the offensive Moir article. That being said, if the representation of her attitude in this article is close to the truth then I would advise her to lighten up. Closely analysed, the clip illustrates an awkwardness with other panellists as Boyle makes his comments, and Dara O'Briain hastily puts the issue to bed through a light joke.

Indeed, one might say that comedy can regulate itself; people laugh if they find something funny, they gasp if they don't. And it should probably stay that way.