Not only that but Ratner was in fact being honest, though perhaps to a foolish extent. He was just saying that if someone wanted something cheap and tatty with gold plating a handful of atoms thick then he was happy to sell it. He didn't have people roaming the streets surreptitiously picking pockets and leaving hilariously fragile jewellery in place of what was taken, he just sold really cheap stuff to people who wanted really cheap stuff but didn't want to be reminded that it was really cheap for a reason. That's not in the same league as prying into the voicemail messages of a murdered teenager and screwing up the police investigation by deleting them and making it look like she's still alive.
Motherfucker, it ain't even the same sport. |
In fact all that the NotW scandal has in common with what happened to Ratner's all those years ago was that a well known name is being shut down, a bunch of people who weren't at fault are going to lose their jobs, and it's all because the gutter press wanted a juicy story.* Oh, and also because there's still a very strong market demand for crap and the today's gutter press is just as happy to oblige.
* I'm not certain but I seem to recall that it was one of the redtops that broke the Ratner story.