What will happen next in the still-mushrooming Baby Reindeer saga? Probably one or more of a number of bad things. Latest bad thing to happen (at time of writing) was Piers Morgan’s decision to pay the so-called real-life Martha – reportedly the inspiration for the stalker character in the Netflix programme – what she claims was £250 so he could interview her on his YouTube show. I always feel the most disingenuous gambit in journalism is the one that goes: “We just want to give you the chance to tell your side of the story …” Anyway, the resultant encounter dropped on Thursday night and was an object lesson in wild-west TV, which has already sparked condemnation from a number of angles. Let’s hope it doesn’t spark real-life events of its own.
Clearly mindful of the criticisms that would be levelled at him for featuring someone UK news outlets had largely avoided even naming, Morgan approached his interviewee wearing a veneer of empathy. Ultimately, though, the Martha character’s enterprise would surely seem low-grade to all the people who edited tabloid newspapers in the not-too-distant past. After all, if you want someone relentlessly pursued, you just get the news desk to do it. Or a private detective. Or – but no. We daren’t all operate under the heroic “uncensored” banner.
