The Sun demands award for its 2006 ‘sick child’ exclusive

The Sun has used its entire front page today to call for official recognition for its 2006 front-page exclusive titled “Famous man has sick child”.

As part of the News International empire The Sun was keen to go through its archives to highlight stories with the most journalistic integrity it could find, settling on the 2006 revelation that Gordon Brown’s son has Cystic Fibrosis.

The Sun’s editorial told readers, “Not only did we break the news that a little boy is poorly, but we merely bent the rules to get that exclusive, meaning no-one should go to prison as a result.”

“This is proper news, and people obviously have a right to know about the sick children of people we don’t like – this is an issue central to the freedom of the press debate.”

“Now gives us a bloody award!”

The Sun’s front page

Tabloid Journalism experts have said the 2006 exclusive, and today’s defence of that story tells you everything you need to know about the UK’s tabloid industry,

One expert told us, “This is up there with Woodward and Bernstein, right? Because what they’ve done is uncover a heartless conspiracy by two parents to shield their sick child from unnecessary media intrusion. Bravo, The Sun, bravo.”

However, those people with an ounce of compassion, or children of their own told us, “If we’re going to give The Sun recognition for gathering a bad taste story without breaking the law, are we also going to start giving awards to rapists because they chose to have a wank in the bushes instead?”