Self-justification for Newsbeat's tabloid behaviour

At the BBC's The Editors blog, Newsbeat's Rod McKenzie defended his decision to constantly refer to Britain's Got Talent contestant Susan Boyle as a virgin.

He said:

"This is not some salacious reporting of sex lives or lack of them. It's a crucial part of her back story and one she herself has highlighted on many media interviews. She's never had a boyfriend and these details are unusual and interesting. Worth reporting, I would argue."

Cue vitriolic comments about Mr McKenzie's "fatuous self-serving nonsense", "peice[sic] of pathetic drivel" and "constant pandering to the salacious, vain and vacuous elements of our culture".

One poster, Dotconnect, said:

"Absolute rubbish Rod. You're not fooling anyone, other than perhaps yourself. She's not had a boyfriend, so rather than referring to her as a singleton, you hone in on the 'lack of sex' angle? What's wrong with just saying "who's never been kissed", which is how others are more respectfully describing her, and how she described herself? Please don't tell me time constraints mean you have to be more succinct than that.

Just be honest. This has everything to do with "virgin" being a more direct statement of her sexual history, and that being more "sensational" to a youthful, more sex-obsessed audience. Absolutely no different to kids brought up on Skins, insecure of themselves, and laughing at "the virgin" in the playground."

The commentators are genuinely angry, seemingly more so by Mr McKenzie's blogpost than the orginal sexual definition.

I have very little interest in the private lives of contestants on any reality TV show, but it's true to say that without an interesting background they get far less airtime. Newsbeat was capitalising on this, as they often do, to get the attention of Radio 1's 'young' audience. I wonder how old all the commentators are?