It’s known as “door stepping” – and easy to imagine as a journalist or three turning up on your door step to ask awkward questions about an upsetting issue.
Does that happen anymore? Well, the PCC has just found The Sunday Times of doing just that when a reporter used Facebook to make contact with a family in mourning to – and get this – to ask about a complaint that family had just made to the press watch dog.
Toby Rundle’s family were already upset that The Sunday Times had suggested he had taken his own life. Mother, Deborah Rundle, had made the complaint which had led journalists to the Facebook page of her daughter.
The Sunday Times points out that the reporter (like so many today) as Freelance and was unaware of the PPC complaint in the first place.
However, the daughter had replied on Facebook to say she didn’t want to talk about it when the reporter sent the original article back through to her.
No surprises that the PPC said the incident was “regrettable”.
The Sunday Times have been have said they understand the error and apologised. It’s also worth noting that the PCC sided with the newspaper in that the headline “Harry Potter student found hanged in his Oxford room” was neither salacious or insensitive.
To me it sounds a lot like a serious case of miss-communication at a very sensitive time. If you’re going to be cautious about asking questions then life as a reporter may well be challenging to you but surely you’ll get the best answers by asking questions at the ‘best’ (as in; most suitable) time.
January 18, 2010
Newspapers