Brian Gorrell Now Goes After the Philippine Star

Brian Gorrell, the Australian whose explosive blog about his “social-climbing” Filipino ex-lover is now a certified cause célèbre, has launched a boycott campaign against The Philippine Star, the newspaper that carries the columns of at least two of the main (sordid) characters in his real-life telenovela.

Gorrell argues that, by not doing something about his complaints concerning the paper’s columnists/contributors (the paper has also so far refused to touch Gorrell’s story, unlike its main rival, the Inquirer), the Star is perpetuating the alleged injustice done to him. He calls the paper “the Philippine Rats” and alleges that these columnists do not even write their own columns. Ouch.

Apart from attracting a wide audience because of the gossipy nature of this blog (tip: read as well the comments section; you’ll be blown away, trust me), Gorrell’s case is increasingly becoming “legitimized” journalistically speaking because of his tack against the Star and because of the legal issues the blog has raised.

Now, media watchdogs such as the Philippine Journalism Review will have no choice but to tackle the possible ethical lapses allegedly committed by the Star’s people.

Is the Star going to heed Gorrell’s challenge and do some house-cleaning? Many doubt it. After all, what can anyone expect from a paper that took in Tim Yap, the so-called “eventologist” whose short gig in the Inquirer was marked by shameless self-promotion and who was fired from the paper allegedly because of his tendency to cross ethical lines much too often and much too flagrantly? (C.C. Hidalgo)