Here’s a touching tale that suggests relations between the press and the police aren’t as bad as some would have us believe.
An officer was pounding his beat in the King’s Cross area on the evening of May 8 when he came across a rather unpleasant sight – a young man, clearly the worse for wear, enjoying a very public piss.
Alongside him stood his girlfriend and another man. They both looked highly embarrassed.
The office waited while the drunk concluded what he was doing and had zipped up then went to make an arrest. As he did so, the drunk wisely managed to string together some coherent sentences.
He explained that he had attended the Regional Press Awards earlier that day, where he had been nominated for a top prize. He had failed to win and had been drowning his sorrows ever since.
The chap with him, who was now holding his head in his hands, was his boss, the editor of a daily newspaper.
Astonishingly, the cop took pity on him. Why? His brother was also a journalist (indeed one who’s been involved with Press Gazette in the past) and so the officer let him off with a warning.
But he declined the reporter’s invitation to shake hands.
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