Support 110 years of independent journalism.

2 August 2013

What’s the difference between r/creepshots and a national newspaper?

400 words of "news", apparently.

By Alex Hern

The Telegraph has decided that it’s news that some women sunbathe topless when it’s 33˚ outside, and that their readers must be furnished with photographs of this as proof. So that’s what they’ve done. The original piece did not go to the lengths of pixellating the women’s faces:

Doubtless the Telegraph would argue that the women were in a public place, and so if they weren’t embarrassed about that, they shouldn’t be embarrassed of being in the paper. Which is basically the same excuse used by the moderators of Reddit’s infamous “creepshots” subforum, where sexualised photographs of women in public were posted without their permission.

The only real difference between the two, it seems, is that only the Telegraph felt the need to publish a 400 word piece about the weather alongside the pictures to justify them.

Select and enter your email address Your new guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture each weekend - from the New Statesman. A quick and essential guide to domestic politics from the New Statesman's Westminster team. A weekly newsletter helping you understand the global economic slowdown. The New Statesman’s weekly environment email. Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates.
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.