Did The Sun Go Too Far With Its Oscar Pistorius Front Page?

British paper accused of 'lechery over a corpse'

The Sun newspaper in Great Britain is facing public backlash over the front page of its Friday edition.

The choice by the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid to report on Oscar Pistorius’ arrest by splashing a full-page bikini photo of his dead girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp has prompted condemnation and calls for apology — an online petition for which has already collected more than 2,400 signees.

Critics of the front page have included politicians …

This is a simply despicable front page. It glories in domestic violence. @rupertmurdoch apologise thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/—
Chris Bryant (@ChrisBryantMP) February 15, 2013

I really hope every member of the Shadow Cabinet thinks twice before writing for The Sun after that front page #HerNameWasReevaSteenkamp—
John Prescott (@johnprescott) February 15, 2013

… and feminist voices …

@rupertmurdoch The Suns front page has hit a new low.Lechery over a corpse. A woman just murdered ? I hope mass boycott #thesunnews—
suzanne moore (@suzanne_moore) February 15, 2013

The Sun's family values: a woman is never too dead to be masturbation fodder. A new low, and i'm not linking. #HerNameWasReevaSteenkamp—
Ellie Cumbo (@EllieCumbo) February 14, 2013

The Sun's front page today is the best possible example of how tabloid culture sees women. Disgusting. #mediaantisexism—
Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) February 15, 2013

… and just plain proponents of human decency.

Huge backlash today about the #Sun front page. Is this the most inappropriate picture ever of a murder victim? twitpic.com/c3st2h—
Jackie Kabler (@jackiekabler) February 15, 2013

Saddened by The Sun's new low point today, and much more so by the fact that this is tolerated in today's Britian. #hernamewasreevasteenkamp—
Clare Coffey (@ClareBCoffey) February 15, 2013

It’s also prompted acerbic commentary: “If only a hot woman could get murdered every day,” wrote Marina Hyde for The Guardian, “then the Sun wouldn’t need Page 3.”

It should be noted that both the New York Post and New York Daily News published similar front pages on Friday with a fraction of the backlash.

The Sun is Great Britain’s most popular newspaper, with an estimated daily readership of 7 million.