TV matters: Superinjunctions are turning TV shows into charades
A device designed to buy silence leaves audiences split between
the bewildered and the knowing     • The Guardian,     • Jump to
comments () louise bagshawe tv matters mark lawson Muted ...
Louise Bagshawe. Photograph: Karen Robinson  One of the
objections to the privacy injunctions that have become the
season's fashionable accessory for dozens of men in sport,
entertainment and business is that a device designed to buy
silence results, in a leaky digital age, in huge numbers of
people who know but can't say.  This dynamic is particularly
apparent on TV and radio programmes, where all those involved in
discussions of injunctions could name the Mr Xs but aren't
allowed to. And, although BBC lawyers muted the sound and
slapped a black rectangle over the mouth of Louise Bagshawe MP
when she hinted at the name of one court-protected footballer on
last week's Have I Got News For You? (BBC1), those in the studio
audience who didn't already know now do