Coverage of mother's death

BarneyMagee

Following on from the AGSI's response on Sunday to the reporting of the garda's death now Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy is also weighing in. There must be a lot of bad feeling amongst the garda about the way it was reported.


This statement is issued by the Garda Commissioner, Mr. Noel Conroy, on his own behalf, on behalf of all members of An Garda Siochana and on behalf of the Corcoran and McCabe families.

Tania Corcoran was a member of An Garda Siochana with the rank of Sergeant, stationed at Santry, Dublin. She died on Friday, 9th March, following the birth of twin boys. One of her babies, Zach, also died.

It is appreciated by the Gardai that the circumstances of the death of Tania and Zach may well have been newsworthy, but the manner of media coverage in certain media outlets was disgusting, insensitive and hurtful.

Tania was a woman, a wife and a mother and her occupation, which in no way contributed to her tragic death, is irrelevant. Likewise, her husband Aidan is also a member of An Garda Siochana and this fact, coupled with any aspect of his career in An Garda Siochana, was irrelevant to the death of his wife and son and any references to that were unnecessary.

The loss of Tania is felt far and wide within An Garda Siochana, but the pain, hurt and suffering of her husband and family is beyond words. For some media outlets to capitalise on this tragedy in the most tasteless manner is obscene.

The Garda Commissioner, on his own behalf and on behalf of the Corcoran & McCabe families and all members of An Garda Siochana, wishes to register his absolute abhorrence at the manner in which this human tragedy was reported by some media outlets.

The Garda Commissioner would also like to thank those in the media who reported the story with sensitivity and who dealt with the story as the human tragedy, which it is.

An Garda Siochana would like to join with the Health Service Executive in its wish that the families and all concerned can now be given the space and privacy that they need to deal with their grief.


Kevin Donohoe.

Superintendent.

Head of Garda Press & Public Relations.

Issued on behalf of the Garda Commissioner.



Kevin Donohoe

Superintendent

Garda Press & Public Relations Officer

flogen

I'm not sure which paper first covered the story (anyone want to list of those who did?), but frankly the previous actions of the husband here have absolutely nothing to do with this woman's death and the death of their child.

It was and is a complete non-story and abotu as relevant as listing off everything either Garda did in the line of duty during their respective careers.

I'm not sure what the justification has been, if any, from the outlets which covered it, but I'm struggling to think of an even remotely worthy one.

copacetic

It seems to me that all the other back and forth between the gardai and media recently has caused a lot of bad feeling and now some of the press are even more 'out to get' the force than normal.

santosubito

flogen wrote:

I'm not sure which paper first covered the story (anyone want to list of those who did?), but frankly the previous actions of the husband here have absolutely nothing to do with this woman's death and the death of their child.

It was and is a complete non-story and abotu as relevant as listing off everything either Garda did in the line of duty during their respective careers.

I'm not sure what the justification has been, if any, from the outlets which covered it, but I'm struggling to think of an even remotely worthy one.

Herald broke the story on Friday morning with the headline Pregnant Garda drops dead.
Their second edition carried the, correct, heading that a garda died while mgiving birth.
The next day the Times ran the stoy, but didn't name Sgt Corcoran, or her husband.
The Indo named him and her, but made no reference to the Abbeylara siege.
The Star did the same, but its headline called her a "cop" and it got lots of complaints for that word (As an explanation, Gardain believe that word to be disrespectful in the extreme).

on Sunday, The S World named both, but made no reference to Abbeylara, as did Star Sunday.
The Mail opn Sunday and the Sunday Independent named both and both led off in their intro that Sgt McCabe had shot dead John Carthy.

flogen

santosubito wrote:

Herald broke the story on Friday morning with the headline Pregnant Garda drops dead.
Their second edition carried the, correct, heading that a garda died while mgiving birth.
The next day the Times ran the stoy, but didn't name Sgt Corcoran, or her husband.
The Indo named him and her, but made no reference to the Abbeylara siege.
The Star did the same, but its headline called her a "cop" and it got lots of complaints for that word (As an explanation, Gardain believe that word to be disrespectful in the extreme).

on Sunday, The S World named both, but made no reference to Abbeylara, as did Star Sunday.
The Mail opn Sunday and the Sunday Independent named both and both led off in their intro that Sgt McCabe had shot dead John Carthy.

Thanks for that - it wasn't so much the story of the death that was an issue (as with the GPO I can appreciate how that's news worthy)... tying the story into Abbeylara is where my objections really come in.

santosubito

It's fair to say bthat all the papers mentioned above knew about the Abbeylara angle.
But the fact that the only two who mentioned it are involved in a biter circulation war should clarify things a bit.
They both wrote it because they were afraid the other would...

constitutionus

considering what happened in the other thread on the SINDO i was hesitant about starting a thread on this but im glad someone else did because this is now strike 3.

are the sunday independant activley trying to out do the sun in the rag stakes? FFS its only a week after their disgraceful treatment of Mr O Toole and now here they are at it again. there was a huge backlash against their coverage on JO Duffy today, ok its not exactly something i listen to either but it is a good barometer of pubic opinion, and the cowards didnt even have the guts to come on and defend their position.

the story was a woman died in childbirth along with one of her twins. a tragic enough occurance in a country that thankfully doesnt see that that much. and prehaps couldve led to a discussion about he hospital involved in case there were problems there, and what do we get "her husband shot your man in abbeylara" :rolleyes: if theyre editor has any integrity he'd resign now because as it stands he's the best add for a press council that we have in this country.

and the defence they used of everything being "factual" ! does this mean when bertie and macdowel announce the start of the election we can look forward to the headline "Bertie, not shy about taking money when things get rough, and MacDowel, who drafted leglislation that allowed paedophiles to groom children for sex, say its time for an election!"? i dont ****ing think so. no matter how "factual" those statements are.

the best thing that can be done here is to just boycott the paper. the only thing these feckers care about is sales and when advertising revenue and counters sale go down you wont believe how quick they'll change their policy. honestly this country used to have a great tradition of newspaper reporting and now it looks like the whole profession is going down the toilet

Judt

Maybe a positive of all this will be that some Garda will stop leaking stuff to the press left and right.

TJJP

constitutionus wrote:

considering what happened in the other thread on the SINDO i was hesitant about starting a thread on this but im glad someone else did because this is now strike 3.

Worth noting that the indo seems to have further lost the run of itself today with two strangely conflicting views on the O'Toole tradgedy.

'O'Toole death: call to release full facts'

vs.

'No evidence of 'cover-up' in garda killer crash probe'

I'm glad I read it online for free....

In relation to the Tania Corcoran tradgedy, I wondered why it was neceassary to refer to her occupation in the early days of the story, but it became obvious why they did it as the rest of the story broke. I thought the coverage was wholly unnecesary and a further example of why we need a stronger PCC. The media is obviously, and sadly, unable to self-regulate in Ireland anymore.

Radio Mad.

For anyone who didn't see the piece in the Sindo, I've reproduced it below.

Dragging up background on the late woman’s husband that has absolutely no relevance to this tragic story is scum bag reporting of the worst kind.

This man must be going through the most unbearable agony at the moment. Adding to that pain and suffering by printing this muck is both irresponsible and totally unforgiveable.

Of course, it’s not the first time the Sindo’s descended to such disgustingly low levels, its treatment of the death of Liam Lawlor just another case-in-point.

I’m afraid it shows the paper for what it is – a rag. I'd have more respect for the worst type of tabloid newspaper.

===============================


Garda who lost wife and son in childbirth shot John Carthy

JIM CUSACK and CHARLIE MALLON

THE husband of the tragic garda who died in childbirth last week was the ERU member who fired the fatal shot which killed John Carthy in the Abbeylara siege.

Today, a tiny Co Louth village will join with a cross-section of the entire Garda force in paying their respects to 34-year-old sergeant Tania Corcoran who lost her life in childbirth.

Her husband, Aidan McCabe, 38, also a member of the force, lost not only his wife, Tania, but also one of their new-born twins, Zach, during the Caesarean section operation.

Doctors were last night still fighting to save the life of the surviving twin.

For the McCabe family it was a second major trauma in their lives. Aidan McCabe, a member of the elite garda Emergency Response Unit, was the man who discharged the fatal bullet which killed John Carthy as he advanced towards officers following the infamous Abbeylara siege.

But the widely admired Garda officer was exonerated in the 744-page Barr tribunal report into the events that led to the death of John Carthy in April 2000.

Judge Robert Barr vindicated ERU officer McCabe, and said in his report: "In all circumstances it is proper to conclude that there was insufficient evidence which might establish that Garda McCabe, on the basis of the information available to him and the circumstances he had to contend with, acted unlawfully in shooting John Carthy."

His wife Tania was five and a half months pregnant with their twins when she died at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda on Thursday night.

She was an extremely experienced and popular member of the force according to colleagues and "had designed her career in the Gardai around her family, her husband, two sons and the twins on the way ".

Originally from Louisburgh in Co Mayo she had 14 years' service and was stationed in Donnybrook before moving on promotion to Ballymun and then Santry.

A full review of the circumstances of her death and treatment is to be carried out by the Health Service Executive, as is normal practice in such cases. An inquest is to be held.

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors general secretary Joe Dirwan said: "Every member of the association and indeed of the entire Garda Siochana has been shocked and traumatised by this extremely sad event and our hearts go out to her husband and family. Our thoughts are with them in their time of terrible tragedy."

The removal of Sgt Corcoran's remains takes place from her home at Grange Rath, Drogheda today at 12.15 to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Termonfeckin for Requiem Mass at 1pm. Burial takes place afterwards to Sheetland Road Cemetery, Termonfeckin.

© Copyright Unison.ie

yop

Been a friend of Tania I am pleased to see the support for her and her husband and little boys.
I was up in Termonfeckin on Sunday and was at the main gates while her coffin was been put in the hearse and standing at the main gates were about 5 scumbags with long lenses snapping as if their sad little lives depended on,they continued on with this while the hearse made its way down the path to the main road.
What I was shocked about was why do they need to do this? Why do they feel the need to print a picture of womans body been put into the hearse!!

I for one felt like taken their lenses and beating them over the head with them, how the 100+ Garda who were standing next to them did not react is a credit to them.

But unfortunately as the "press" have show over the last number of days and that sad little gossip grabbing woman from Cork on the LiveLine Show showed us there is a lot of ignorance around.

On another note I was warmed by John Carthys sister comments, I am sure they this rooted memories up for her also.

Tania and Zak RIP, you will be missed.

Tom Dunne

flogen wrote:

tying the story into Abbeylara is where my objections really come in.

There is more to this than meets the eye, there has to be.

I am no conspiracy theorist, but what in God's name were these journalists thinking? What makes this story news? Why report on a tragic, private, family matter? All it did was bring unwanted attention on the husband and his family when he is possibly at his most vulnerable.

I cannot for the life of me see what these rags of newspapers had to gain by reporting this, other than some as yet unknown agenda. I believe Joe Duffy dedicated almost all of Monday's show to it. I heard Gerry Ryan this morning saying he knew of the reporter for the Sindo, held him in high regard, but couldn't for the life of him figure out why he would write such a trashy piece of tabloid nonsense.

This is a new low in journalism in this country.

Radio Mad.

Hello Yop, please accept my condolences. The death of your friend and her baby is just awful. I am thinking of the other baby and hope he/she pulls through.

I work in broadcast news and covered the story when it broke last week. We stuck to reporting that your friend had died after giving birth, her baby also passed away and another was critically ill. As deaths of this kind are rare we also mentioned the fact that the HSE had said it was launching an investigation.

We certainly had no interest in doing a background check on the husband and father. Why would we, it had nothing to do with the story.When I saw what the Sindo did I was both appalled and angered. The article was hurtful, unnecessary, unethical and just plain bloody disgraceful.

I have spoken to a lot of my colleagues about what happened, and to a man and woman they condemn what the Sindo did. This type of reportage is bottom of the barrel stuff and not proper journalism. The reporters who wrote this story, the editor and the paper itself should hang their collective heads in shame.

jdivision

A lot of journos are disgusted by the story, but then what do people expect from both the Sindo and Mail. This has been going on for years with the Sindo in particular yet people still buy it. If all those readers who said they wouldn't buy it after the Liam Lawlor story had followed through its circulation would have gone through the floor. Until such time as people actually vote with their money and buy something produced by neither of those newspaper groups or none at all (I do work for one of the rivals, so to avoid allegations of bias I'll include none at all) then it will be the same thing again and again.

Tom Dunne

Radio Mad. wrote:

I work in broadcast news and covered the story when it broke last week.

Why?

It is a tragedy, but why is there a need to report it? Why intrude into people's personal lives? Private individuals, not public celebrities.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Tom Dunne

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

I don't know that it is.

I suppose I just feel this is, dare I say it, all the more tragic given that there is a mother and child involved.

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

No, certainly not. But it just seems most unusual to report a death in a maternity hospital. I don't know, am I just being over sensitive? I just can't help but feel there is more to this.

santosubito

What do you mean? What more could there be?

yop

Radio Mad. thank you for your post and condolences and I do take on board that there is only a minute % of Journalists would stoop this low. I do also agree that this story had to be brought to light.

What does annoy me now is that the real story of how she died is brushed under the carpet, the fact that she was sent home on Wednesday when she told them her waters had broke, the fact that she delivered @ 27 weeks and the fact that she was alive, say her dead son but yet the hospital did not monitor her closer and "allowed" her to die!!!

That the real story that the place where people go for medical care and attention, where if you put the words Drogheda and death or died into google and see the results, are been let away without explanation is dumb founding me! THAT IS THE REAL STORY.

flogen

santosubito wrote:

It's fair to say bthat all the papers mentioned above knew about the Abbeylara angle.

Well I know of one other newspaper that did know about it but decided not to run with it out of respect to Garda McCabe... I'd have to agree based on that that the others were in a similar boat.

@Tom - As for hidden agendas, I'm not sure what they could be tbh - I just think both papers in question felt it was worth tying one tragic situation to another despite there being no reason to... The Sindos "everything was factual" reinforces that, as if that's reason alone to run a story.

brianthebard

tom dunne wrote:

No, certainly not. But it just seems most unusual to report a death in a maternity hospital. I don't know, am I just being over sensitive? I just can't help but feel there is more to this.

I think that's because it doesn't happen too often, and this was a particularly sad case. I don't think there was a problem with reporting the story, but dragging abbeylara stuff into it was a terrible thing to do. Should all public officials and civil servants expect to see past events that they were involved with dragged up if/when their name is mentioned in the news? This sets a dangerous precedent as to what is an isn't newsworthy.

constitutionus

to reiterate what one of the other posters said the real story is how this young woman came to die. and indeed before the disgraceful behaviour by the SINDO that was the way it was developing. i dont want to say malpractice was involved but an investigation is required and in fairness to the hospital the turnover in maternity ward these days is ridiculous. im in my 30's and when i was born i was kept in for 10 days and that was average, now they chuck you out practically as soon as you can walk. this kinda hot house medical care cant be good in the long run so this tragedy couldve had a good sidenote in drawing attention to whats happening there and hopefully prevented other familes feeling the grief the corcorans and macabes are now. unfortunetly that opertunity looks to have been missed

in regards to toms post about thinking theres more behind it i have an awfull feeling it really is just as shallow as sales. alot of people complained to the SINDO and rang in radio shows but unfortunetly nearly to a one they bought the paper. and the editorial team wont give a damn about indignation when the coffers are full. it looks like were getting the howard stern school of promotion (i.e some of his most faithfull listeners are the ones who hate him ) so i reckon were probably gonna get more in the future.

TBH im somewhat shocked they see themselves competing with the daily mail. i'dve thought they were totally different markets, prehaps the "ragification" of the indo is down to this. if this is so its a sad day for irish journalism

Radio Mad.

tom dunne wrote:

Why?

It is a tragedy, but why is there a need to report it? Why intrude into people's personal lives? Private individuals, not public celebrities.

Hello Tom,

I felt at the time and still feel it was perfectly correct to run this story. Firstly, statistically deaths that happen this way are rare. Secondly, the HSE stated that an investigation had been launched in to what happened. Two reasons, I think, which fully justify my decision.

As far as I know, the Evening Herald broke the news. I didn’t see the article, but believe, in stark contrast to its sister the Sunday independent, the paper’s treatment of the story was flawless. While the Herald hasn’t always covered itself in glory, this time around it appears to have got it right. Congratulations to it and the reporter(s) who wrote the piece on getting the exclusive and covering it well. That’s what good journalism is all about.

I don’t like knocking fellow journos, far from it, and believe when a job’s done well it should be noted. Equally, though, when reporters do wrong they should be condemned outright.

Radio Mad.

constitutionus wrote:

to reiterate what one of the other posters said the real story is how this young woman came to die. and indeed before the disgraceful behaviour by the SINDO that was the way it was developing.

I fully agree. While the initial story was that two people died in tragic and rare circumstances, you’re right, it should now move on to how it happened.

I must admit that, all too often, we journalists carry a story, drop it and then move on to the next one. I include myself here. It’s something that troubles me quite a lot. However, I work for a music radio station that broadcasts 5 minutes of news headlines once an hour and, unfortunately, we just don’t have the resources to follow-up on stories like this.

This is where our public service broadcaster comes in. RTE certainly has the resources to delve further. It has the staff numbers and longer news bulletins, Prime Time etc that should be used to give this story the coverage it deserves. Likewise, newspapers, in general, have the ability to assign reporters to single stories for longer periods.

TheNog

Another example of gutter journalism appeared on the Sunday World( i believe) when they named the woman who left her baby in australia. They gave her and address which is a small village in wexford.

I mean for god's sake can they not leave the poor woman alone and over come whatever problems she is experiencing without telling everyone who she is and where she lives.

Tom Dunne

Radio Mad. wrote:

Hello Tom,

I felt at the time and still feel it was perfectly correct to run this story. Firstly, statistically deaths that happen this way are rare. Secondly, the HSE stated that an investigation had been launched in to what happened. Two reasons, I think, which fully justify my decision.

Ok, fair enough. I can accept the reasoning behind reporting the story. If there is a broader issue of maternity hospitals lack of care, well then I accept that needs to be highlighted.

I cannot accept the reasoning behind the likes of the Sindo naming names, though.

brianthebard

I don't think there is any justification for that Tom, you're right.

Seth Brundle

Whilst there is no justification for the Sindo, the Star, the Mail or the Sunday Worst naming them, is anyone actually surprised at this?
I don't understand why anyone still actually buys them!

copacetic

kbannon wrote:

Whilst there is no justification for the Sindo, the Star, the Mail or the Sunday Worst naming them, is anyone actually surprised at this?
I don't understand why anyone still actually buys them!

I can't help myself on the sindo, i usually buy 3 or 4 sunday papers and have been reading the sindo for 20 years or more (I think?). It seems wrong not to buy it, but mostly now I just get annoyed reading it. (A bit like boards!)

Tom Dunne

kbannon wrote:

Whilst there is no justification for the Sindo, the Star, the Mail or the Sunday Worst naming them, is anyone actually surprised at this?

Surprised at the fact that they market the Sindo as a quality paper. It is far from it.

kbannon wrote:

I don't understand why anyone still actually buys them!

daveym wrote:

I can't help myself on the sindo, i usually buy 3 or 4 sunday papers and have been reading the sindo for 20 years or more (I think?). It seems wrong not to buy it,

There's your answer.

I think it is like Eircom customers, or AIB customers. People have put up with being shafted for the past 10-20 years and are willing to keep putting up with it and will never change. I bet they also read the Sindo.

santosubito

Radio Mad. wrote:

Hello Tom,

As far as I know, the Evening Herald broke the news. I didn’t see the article, but believe, in stark contrast to its sister the Sunday independent, the paper’s treatment of the story was flawless. While the Herald hasn’t always covered itself in glory, this time around it appears to have got it right. Congratulations to it and the reporter(s) who wrote the piece on getting the exclusive and covering it well. That’s what good journalism is all about.

QUOTE]

Holy God! The Herald are in just as much **** as the Indo.
Their first edition headline was "Pregnant garda drops dead" - which is most definitely not flawless or anyway accurate. Gardai are hopping mad over it and the paper has had loads of complaints.

copacetic

tom dunne wrote:

There's your answer.

I think it is like Eircom customers, or AIB customers. People have put up with being shafted for the past 10-20 years and are willing to keep putting up with it and will never change. I bet they also read the Sindo.

I agree, I am part of the problem!

You can see from my posts on the various threads here that I am about as far from a fan of the reporting in the Sindo as can be, but yet I still buy it. Maybe I just like being scandalised every Sunday, but would hate to go into work on Monday and not have read what everyone else is bitching about.

The Sindo know what they are doing market wise that's for sure.

Radio Mad.

Holy God! The Herald are in just as much **** as the Indo.
Their first edition headline was "Pregnant garda drops dead" - which is most definitely not flawless or anyway accurate. Gardai are hopping mad over it and the paper has had loads of complaints.

Sorry, I stand corrected. My choice of the word 'flawless' was also wrong. Obviously the headline was inaccuarate, as the poor woman died after she'd given birth. As stated already, unfortunately I didn't get to read the Herald article, and probably shouldn't have formed an opinion based on something I hadn't read. I'd be interested to know if, besides the misleading headline, the article itself was accurate and to the point - or did it go the same route as the one in the Sindo?

Nightwish

I was appalled at the Sindo's headining story last Sunday. It was heartless seeing as Sunday was the day the lady and her child were buried. It by no means was in the publics interest to know who her husband was, nor her profession. If it were I who had died I doubt the headline "Civil Servant dies giving birth" would've been a headline. The whole thing has just demonstrated to me how low the Sindo will go for a story. I just thank myself I stopped buying it years ago.

lostexpectation

santosubito wrote:

It's fair to say bthat all the papers mentioned above knew about the Abbeylara angle.
But the fact that the only two who mentioned it are involved in a biter circulation war should clarify things a bit.
They both wrote it because they were afraid the other would...

santo the reason you may not be aware that rub people up the wrong so often is cos your explainations so often sound like excuses/justifications...

but anyway yes it was dreadful, gardai drops dead what the F*** were tehy thinking? I couldn't believe it when i saw the sindo, I wonder if jim cusack will be having so many fireside chats with gardai from now on?

copacetic

Apparently the GRA has asked all members, their families and relations to boycott the Sindo, indo and mail on sunday.

Tom Dunne

Proper order. And you should do the same, young man.

copacetic

tom dunne wrote:

Proper order. And you should do the same, young man.

I should I know, I'm a times man day to day, but sat and sunday I do tend to buy all the papers. I'm already wondering what the Sindo will say about the boycott!

I do think though that this boycott, while probably not going to hit them hard, is interesting as it hits at the Indo/Sindo demographic quite hard. All they have to do next is piss off the IFA and they'll be in the sh1t.

Of course if they start a campaign against pot bellied, beer swilling baldies then I'll drop them like they're hot!

Tom Dunne

copacetic wrote:

Of course if they start a campaign against pot bellied, beer swilling baldies then I'll drop them like they're hot!

You said it, brother.

Stargal

This is published in today's Sindo - although there isn't a name on it on the website, it would appear that it's by Aengus Fanning.

The piece apologises to Garda McCabe for any distress the article may have caused him, but falls well shorts of an apology for actually printing the article in the first place. Here's the article in full:

Questions raised by story on Garda Aidan McCabe
MANY questions have been raised by my decision to publish on page one of last week's Sunday Independent the story of the funeral of the wife and child of Garda Aidan McCabe and of Garda McCabe's involvement in the siege at Abbeylara.

It was not our intention to add to Garda McCabe's burden of grief. There are many who say that we did, and who genuinely and strongly hold that view.

I have no hesitation in offering our deepest sympathy to Garda Aidan McCabe and in apologising to him and to his family, colleagues and friends for adding to their already great distress.

The headline was considered by many to be insensitive and this point of view is reflected in some of the letters published in today's paper. The fact that we made it clear that Garda McCabe was completely exonerated by the Barr Tribunal has done nothing to ameliorate many people's anger.

I recognise that Garda McCabe, and many others in the Garda Siochana, have a very difficult job to do, one in which matters of life or death can be determined in a split second.

I can say with absolute conviction from the depths of my being that our story was in no way intended to be critical of Garda McCabe.

Nor was it intended to make the task of the Garda Siochana even more difficult than it already is.

How could this be otherwise, when the Sunday Independent was almost alone among the media in supporting the gardai in the tragic and truly impossible situation in which they found themselves at Abbeylara. We were often against the tide of public opinion in taking this position.

The dilemma is that the private and awful grief of Garda McCabe was taking place against the background of another tragic event some years ago that was already in the public domain and is a matter of history.

Such a unique combination of tragic events in April 2000 is something that very few people have to bear and life must, indeed, seem very unfair to Garda Aidan McCabe. Garda McCabe found himself at the centre of that event in the line of duty.

My judgement was that the story was news and was of interest to the public.

Eventually, nobody's life remains untouched by bereavement, by profound grief. Garda Aidan McCabe's lot is that he has been visited by the deepest trauma twice while still a young man.

We believe that he will have the strength, the resources and the wisdom to overcome this awful adversity and to lead a long and fulfilled life.

We offer Garda Aidan McCabe, his family, his colleagues and his friends our sincerest apologies and deepest condolences.

Jesus Wept

santosubito wrote:

.
The Star did the same, but its headline called her a "cop" and it got lots of complaints for that word (As an explanation, Gardain believe that word to be disrespectful in the extreme).

Did the Gardai really say the word 'cop' is offensive?

That's the type of journalism you would get from The Star, and giving the circumstances that a mother and child are dead, it would be better if they didn't use slang type words like 'cop'.

But if generally speaking the Gardai find the word 'cop' offensive?

Bit ridiculous.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cop

Seth Brundle

Calling a garda 'cop' is the same as calling an electrician a 'sparks' - something which I believe offends many electricians.

timmywex

it was bad, the headlines some papers came up with in relation to the husband, in fairness, he has to live with that on his conscience for his life without it being dragged up in a time of loss

plus, he was cleared of any wrong doing and the fbi report said john carty should have been shot much earlier when he stepped outside the door instead of letting an armed man approach the unarmed gardai

Seth Brundle

I don't really want the Carty issue raised here but had things been dealt with differently, then there could have been (allegedly) no need for John Carty to come out of the house with his gun!

copacetic

To my shame I bought the Sindo today to see what they had to say for themselves. A front page 'apology' by the editor. A bit of a half assed one though. eg:

It was not our intention to add to Garda McCabe's burden of grief. There are many who say that we did, and who genuinely and strongly hold that view

It seems he couldn't just bring himself to say sorry, the 'apology' is full of excuses and 'it was considered insensitive by many' quotes. Can't seem to just admit that it was insensitive at a minimum.

I really don't know why he bothered to put in such a half hearted apology.

Tom Dunne

copacetic wrote:

To my shame I bought the Sindo today to see what they had to say for themselves. .

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WILL YOU STOP DOING THAT!

I've just read the apology on the net, and to be honest, it wasn't worth the bother. It was a half-arsed "we ran with a controversial story, it bit us, so we apologise" type apology. The parallels with the Liam Lawlor trash are quite obvious.

constitutionus

thanks to the poster who put up the article apologising for their initial report.

this is my first time back in a while so i wasnt aware the gardai had asked their members to boycott the paper. i have a feeling thats got more to do with the front page apology than any real remorse. i didnt buy it myself and have resolved not to till im sure they finished doing this sort of stuff but i will give em credit for the front page apology. ok it was a little half arsed but it was on page one and i cant remember the last time a paper did that (liam lawlor anyone? i seem to remember that being internal but i could be wrong.) still its good to see that the public can still have an effect on editorial policy, alot of people in the media seem to think theyre little rupert murdochs so hopefully this little blow to the editors ego might snap him back to reality.

pity he didnt sign the peice though.

lostexpectation

constitutionus wrote:

thanks to the poster who put up the article apologising for their initial report.

this is my first time back in a while so i wasnt aware the gardai had asked their members to boycott the paper. i have a feeling thats got more to do with the front page apology than any real remorse. i didnt buy it myself and have resolved not to till im sure they finished doing this sort of stuff but i will give em credit for the front page apology. ok it was a little half arsed but it was on page one and i cant remember the last time a paper did that (liam lawlor anyone? i seem to remember that being internal but i could be wrong.) still its good to see that the public can still have an effect on editorial policy, alot of people in the media seem to think theyre little rupert murdochs so hopefully this little blow to the editors ego might snap him back to reality.

pity he didnt sign the peice though.

well it wasn't an apology the editor just told us we'd mistinerpreted their intentions in the piece, (and they'd probably do it again).

this is particularily arrogant

How could this be otherwise, when the Sunday Independent was almost alone among the media in supporting the gardai in the tragic and truly impossible situation in which they found themselves at Abbeylara. We were often against the tide of public opinion in taking this position.

we could have a game of spot the garda co-operating with these journo/papers now