Ian Tomlinson - a quick clarification

I have quite a comfortable time here, looking at the tabloids and writing posts on the things that take my fancy when I have time (which is in very short supply at the moment). I type my stuff and bugger off. I sometimes comment on other blogs here and there, but for the most part I stay out of right vs. left blog stuff. Sure I like kicking Richard Barnbrook, but who wouldn't? It's easy and it's fun.

Is this the start of the smearing of Ian Tomlinson?

I wrote most of 'Ian Tomlinson and the tabloids' last night, before posting it up earlier today. At the time of writing, I hadn't seen any of today's coverage and to be honest I expected it to be continuing yesterday's reverse ferreting that followed the Guardian's release of video footage. I had thought about mentioning the smearing of Jean Charles de Menezes and the Koyair brothers following those fiascos, and wondered if we'd see similar here, but since there was video footage of Mr Tomlinson being attacked from behind I thought it unlikely.

Ian Tomlinson and the tabloids

At around 7.30pm on Wednesday 1 April, a man caught up in the G20 protests despite not bing a protester, died. The coverage of Ian Tomlinson's death laid bare the inadequacies of the popular press in dealing with events such as this. The main and most obvious failing is the over-reliance of the press on official accounts, but there were other factors at play that led to the pretty dismal reporting. This abysmal coverage would probably not have been challenged in the tabloids had the Guardian not released video on Tuesday of Mr Tomlinson being assaulted from behind shortly before his death. Here is the footage, which isn't very nice: