BBC's Andrew Marr embarrassed by his own hypocracy

BBC presenter Andrew Marr has revealed he took out a super-injunction* to protect his family's privacy - but says he will not pursue it any further.

Mr Marr told the Daily Mail he was "embarrassed" about the gagging order he took out in 2008 to suppress reports of an affair with a fellow journalist.

"I did not come into journalism to go around gagging journalists," he said.

Private Eye editor, Ian Hislop, said Mr Marr, as a journalist himself, had been a "touch hypocritical".

Mr Marr's comments follow a number of recent injunctions which have banned the identification of celebrities.

* a gag order:

A gag order (also known as a gagging order or suppression order) is an order, sometimes a legal order by a court or government, other times a private order by an employer or other institution, restricting information or comment from being made public.

Gag orders are often used against participants involved in a lawsuit or criminal trial. They are also a tool to prevent media from publishing unwanted information on a particular topic. A Criminal Court, for instance, will issue a gag order on the media if the judge believes that potential jurors in a future trial will be influenced by the media reporting or speculation on the early stages of a case. Another example might be to ensure police are not impeded in their investigations by media publicity about a case.

In a similar manner, a 'gag law' is intended to limit freedom of the press, by instituting censorship or restricting access to information.

And the wealthy are misusing it. I'm shocked, shocked!

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