Ray Gosling Guilty - Of Wasting Police Time

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After 6 months of police investigations, Ray Gosling has finally admitted that he lied about killing a former gay lover.

Earlier this year Ray Gosling claimed (on a BBC TV program) that he had killed a man by smothering him with a pillow (more than 20 years ago). The man, who has not been named, was apparently dying of AIDS.

I wrote an article on this in February (Ray Gosling - Is death confession a publicity stunt?) and expressed my views that this was nothing more than an attempt to gain attention. In the article I stated "However, it is possible, if he is put under some difficult questioning, we might hear another confession, that the story is a hoax?"

Ray Gosling Guilty of wasting police time

The fact that Gosling has now confessed to the claim being a lie and wasting police time, is not a surprise. However, why did it take so long to discover this truth?

Whilst the police had no choice but to look into the claim made by Gosling, it was plainly obvious that his story was full of holes. His performance in front of the cameras was unconvincing and you will find many better in just about any amateur play on offer.

For Gosling (a former TV presenter aged 71), this was perhaps a last gasp effort to grab a few headlines and promote a book he is writing. He is not the first, and won't be the last to use such tactics, but what were the BBC thinking of to allow him to pull this stunt?

Journalism is no longer about investigating potentially newsworthy stories, where reporters might spend weeks or months checking out the facts. News suppliers have become more like supermarkets, where a product is put on the shelves as quickly, and as cheaply as possible.

Stories are sought that have what is called the "winning formula", a topic that is known to attract interest from the public (sex and violence). The same method is used in Hollywood films, which is why the producers force us to watch sequels, prequels and remakes of films that have done well at the box office. This obsession with quantity, rather than quality, does nothing more than cheat the reader out of a service they should be getting (and used to receive in the past).

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The latest technique used by some newspapers is the "sting", where a target is "tricked" into either breaking the law, or revealing some information that would normally be confidential. Whilst this tactic might be more acceptable if used to catch an obvious offender, quite often the targets are simply "tempted" into doing something wrong.

I am not a journalist in the true sense of the word, my articles refer to stories that have already been made public, and I am merely offering opinions on my findings. However, I feel that writers like myself are becoming more necessary, as we act as a kind of "watchdog" for an industry that is fast losing its original purpose, which is to report the news, not make it!