Front page branded 'gutter journalism'

An MHK has launched a blistering attack on the editor of Isle of Man Newspapers over a front-page lampoon of Onchan member Zac Hall.

Chris Robertshaw said the article, highlighting extensive plagiarism by Mr Hall in a speech about same sex marriage, amounted to 'an attempted assassination' of his integrity.

Mr Hall failed to attribute the source of large swathes of a keynote speech he gave, opposing the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.

The paper's graphic portrayal of Mr Hall as a parrot was described in the Keys today by Mr Robertshaw as 'cheap and nasty gutter journalism'.

Without naming him, he said the paper's editor Richard Butt had used the article to 'shame' Mr Hall over his views.

Mr Hall, who had copied articles by Catholic theologians against same sex marriage in an Irish religious newspaper, later apologised for what he called a 'somewhat lax' approach.   

Mr Hall was among four MHKs who opposed the bill at its second reading in the Keys last month - it is currently at the clauses stage.