OK not OK

I want to talk about OK magazine.

Yes the magazine that sank to new depths under it's proprietor Richard 'anything for money' Desmond with such headlines as: 'Jordan - why I walked out on Pete' (she didn't),'Cheryl - baby boy predicted' (Cheryl Cole wasn't pregnant but a physic OK had hired did a reading and said if she ever was pregnant it would be a boy) and The Lily Allen exclusive look round her Kilburn home (Ms Allen had not opened her doors and got her lawyers to force an apology). Has a new issue out that has caused quite a back up of bile in me.

That is because it has now plumbed depths not seen before in a 'checkout special' by showing how much it 'cares' about dying 27 year old Jade Goody in its 'Jade Goody Official Tribute Issue'.

Now I'm not a fan of Jade's work, I wasn't a lover of Big Brother, nor appreciated her apprentice rip-off, however I can sympathise with her and her family over the foul illness she has and even raise an impressed eyebrow about her determination to get as much money as she can to secure her family's future.

It is this selling of her story that muddies the water of my outrage somewhat. OK seems to think that because they paid for the exclusive to her wedding (even banning a close friend from attending because she worked for a rival mag) they think that they now have exclusive over her death as well.

To hammer home this exclusive they decide to release this 'Obit Special' before rivals and before Jade has actually died.

This is not, despite the 'Official' headline on the front cover, an official tribute. (I'm taking official to mean something asked for by the person involved or their family, not officially an OK tribute)! Despite OK saying they had cleared this with family apparently speaking to them to explain this celebration of Jade's life, it not appears they had not and that the family is not happy about it at all.

Some will say if you court the media for gain you must expect to have them come down on you as well. I personally think that's bullshit and hope these bottom feeding, gutter scouring, greasy, conscious free hacks choke on the money their grubby bylines bring in.

But that's just my opinion.