Winehouse fallout: Gordon takes to the air

A flurry of activity on the radio as The Sun attempts to justify its coverage of the Amy Winehouse stories.

First up was managing editor, the splendidly named Graham Dudman, who ventured onto Five Live to explain how it was all for the best. (A large chunk of the interview can be heard on the Guardian's MediaTalk podcast). Dudman explained how the paper ran the film as some sort of social service - in the hope that the police or, mysteriously, "social workers" would get involved to help her as a result.

Momentarily wrong-footed by a question from Sheila Fogarty, Dudman seemed to suggest the Sun might donate any profits from the issue running the footage of Amy doing crack to help other drug addicts. We'll believe that when we see Rebekah Wade handing over an enormous cheque.

Meanwhile, Gordon Smart popped up on 6Music's The Music Week to defend the story. He kept repeating that it was a great exclusive - although not so great he though to mention Nick Parker, whose byline graced the story in the first place. Smart suggested that, since Amy went into rehab straight after the Sun ran the story, the paper had done a good thing by providing this last, crucial piece of evidence that gave Amy a chance to wake up to what she was doing. It made her admit she was a drug addict, and that she needed help.

However, even Gordon's own tale of events after the pictures appeared - which saw Winehouse pulled into Universal's offices, confronted with a bunch of negative press cuttings (that one guy had spent two days pulling together) and given the "choice" to admit she was hooked - makes it clear that far from being a moment where Amy opened her eyes, it was just the point where her paymasters lost their patience. Because if the Sun's video had made Amy decide to seek help, why would she have needed to spend time at a record company office block looking through a dossier?

The video wasn't a cold, hard dose of reality; it was merely something else for Universal to bounce her into rehab with.

Challenged that some 6Music listeners felt uncomfortable with the paper running shots from the film, and the invasion of privacy involved, Gordon rummaged around for an excuse. Aha! "Amy would take drugs regardless of if there was a photographer chasing her or not" explained Smart. So she didn't care if she was seen, we're meant to conclude, and from this there was no invasion of her privacy because she was behaving as would have in public.

Besides being a weak argument from a logical point of view, it's bollocks anyway - if Amy was always taking drugs when there were photographers around, where are all the photos, then? Clearly, she attempted to keep at least the consumption of drugs private.

Gordon also offered the defence that she went into rehab and thus, the invasion of her privacy was justifiable as "she needed the jolt". And then he tried to argue, again, that Winehouse held some sort of public office when meant the paper was justified in revealing what she got up to behind closed doors - "drugs" Gordon revealed "aren't glamorous; [Amy is] a serious role model [with] a position of responsiblity."

But if the idea is to try and stop kids thinking that doing drugs is cool, then why has Smart (and the rest of the media) run page after page on her drug abuse? Since Amy doesn't publicise her drug use, the only way the impressionable kids are going to know that Winehouse does drugs is because they've read it in columns like Gordon's. If they don't want kids to grow up thinking fame and snort and blow and cash go together like an after-hours party for Man United players, why keep banging on about it? And isn't it a bit hypocritical for Smart - who glories in over-indulgence, awarding a prize for "Caner of the Year" - to suddenly start worrying about role models and bad influences?

Some gentle probing about the source of the video gave Gordon a chance to stress how much he cares again: the tape reminded us how Amy is surrounded by "parasites... characters trying to make money out of her." The same parasites who, presumably, The Sun had paid money to for the footage in the first place. If there wasn't a market, there wouldn't be any parasites, would there, Gordon?

Most laughably of all, Smart promised that - since Amy is being good - her rehab will be "handled delicately". Having had photographer pursue her to the door of the clinic, that seemed unlikely; given that Smart is running a piece on Winehouse 's treatment this morning, we suspect he knew he was lying even as he told 6Music that "she'll get some space now" yesterday lunchtime.

[Thanks to Steve H]