Paper distances itself following Photographer facebook comments

PCPhoto

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/probe-launched-after-photographers-sick-facebook-posts-about-michaela-harte-2508470.html

Monday January 24 2011
A newspaper photographer who posted vile messages on Facebook about tragic Michaela McAreavey is being investigated by the paper’s bosses.

Susanne Morrison — who takes pictures for the County Down Outlook weekly paper — ranted that she was “sick of hearing” about Michaela's murder because she could not see “what makes her so special”.

Susanne also made other sickening remarks which we are not repeating.

Bizarrely, she added that Michaela’s honeymoon murder was a case of “karma” and that “what goes around comes around”.

Rathfriland girl Susanne, a Rangers and Linfield fan who has 613 Facebook ‘friends’, posted on her wall: “Susanne Morrison is sick hearing about Makeala [sic] Hartes death!

“Thousands of people die terrible deaths every day through diseases and whatever so what makes her so special.

“Soldiers don’t get as much coverage as she has and they are risking their lives to protect us! Its about time this country got its priorities right!!!”

Within minutes five people had posted comments.

One gave her the sensible advice: “If you don't want to hear about it, don't watch it. And stop complaining about it.”

Another wrote: “At least spell her name right.”

But Susanne sneered: “o well haha god nos wat way she spells it”.

And unmoved by the suggestion that she should shut up, Susanne, 19, added further insult, saying: “What is it they say about what goes around comes around or karma or what ever u wanna call it! or as my mum would say your sins will always find u out hehe.”

The Co Down Outlook, where Susanne works part-time, circulates in the area where Michaela’s devastated widower John McAreavey plays football for the Down county side and where John and Michaela had bought a new home in Lawrencetown.

Co Down Outlook editor Joanne Ross issued a statement to Sunday Life last week saying that they were horrified by the Facebook comments and the paper was investigating.

Joanne Ross said: “We are totally appalled by the comments made on Facebook.

“The views and opinions expressed are those of the individual author and are not shared or endorsed by the company.

“The County Down Outlook therefore categorically disassociates itself with the comments made and we have acted immediately to investigate this urgent matter, which is currently ongoing.”

The Co Down Outlook is part of the Alpha newspaper group — owned by multi-millionaire former Unionist MP, John Taylor, now Lord Kilclooney, and his family.

On her Facebook site Susanne Morrison describes one of her activities as “being Protestant”.

She also listed among her jokey interests — “Waking up on July 12th and realising you are God’s chosen race” and “Prods don’t do mass, but if they did, it would probably be the best mass in the world. It’s Northern Ireland not Ireland. I’m proud to be British!”

Sunday Life tried to contact Susanne last week but she refused to return our calls.

On Friday, her solicitors sent us a fax saying Susanne Morrison had no comment to make in relation to any proposed story.

The solicitors said that if we published information “in respect of which our client had a ‘reasonable expectation of privacy’,” then their client would be entitled to bring an action for misuse of “private information”.

Ms Morrison’s comments — the subject of the Outlook newspaper’s investigation — had already been widely circulated by herself on the Internet and she had provoked comments from some of her hundreds of Facebook ‘friends’.

Minutes after she posted the comments one pal agreed: “your f****n right suzy.”

Another said: “U tell em lol.”

And even when one advised her to ignore the media coverage of Michaela McAreavey’s murder if she didn’t like it, Susanne posted back defiantly: “U can’t miss it its everywhere on every channel u flick on to! Don’t get me wrong its terrible and you wouldn’t wish it on anybody but lots of people die and it never makes the news. Everyone should be treated the same!”

All the offensive material concerning Michaela’s murder was later removed.

Former Rathfriland High School pupil Susanne, who has an HND qualification in photography from the Southern Regional College, says on her Facebook that her favourite football teams include Linfield and Rangers – and that she likes “cuddling, hugging, chocolate chip cookies, smiling and photography”.

Susanne has also written on her homepage: “2011 is gonna be a good year — I have so much planned!!”

On her Flickr page she describes herself as a newspaper photographer while on another site she said: “I have a real passion for photography. Whatever the occasion you are guaranteed a unique style of photography that captures the mood, laughter and all the fun.”

© Sunday Life

Looks like the "freelance" photographer may not be getting much work from that publication.

in saying that - the article is very biased

smelltheglove

Stupid remarks honestly, I firmly believe when you work for yourself you really have to watch what you say publicly especially on social networking sites, that was a pretty idiotic thing to do.

sheesh

sineadw

Feckin eejit. You'd seriously think the Indo would have better things to write about than "idiot says idiotic things on Facebook" today of all days though?

smelltheglove

Why today of all days? Did I miss something else in the news?

sineadw

Eh.. the whole government-collapsing-country-on-its-knees thing? The article is a tad sensationalist and pointless and long. Idiotic nobody part timer at a crappy regional paper making stupid remarks on facebook.. reads like a no news day story TBH. Very odd.

Promac

Some people just have more hatred than sense.

Promac

sineadw wrote: »

Eh.. the whole government-collapsing-country-on-its-knees thing? The article is a tad sensationalist and pointless and long. Idiotic nobody part timer at a crappy regional paper making stupid remarks on facebook.. reads like a no news day story TBH. Very odd.

That's true - the girl is obviously a twit but the indo went out of its way to villify her as much as possible. Do we really need to know that she's a rangers supporter?

PCPhoto

sineadw wrote: »

Feckin eejit. You'd seriously think the Indo would have better things to write about than "idiot says idiotic things on Facebook" today of all days though?

Cant fill a paper with just one story !! (even though they do try !!)

sineadw

Promac wrote: »

That's true - the girl is obviously a twit but the indo went out of its way to villify her as much as possible. Do we really need to know that she's a rangers supporter?

Exactly. The whole tone of it is very odd.

smelltheglove

Haha was wondering was I missing some facebook world takeover or something in the news haha.

Yes it is a silly story but sure it has us talking doesnt it so it most likely fulfilled its purpose.

PCPhoto

I did say it in my first comment that the article is very slanted..... they probably got the "Rangers" fan part from her facebook page.

Ash.J.Williams

She's doesn't appear to be very articulate.

PCPhoto

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

She's doesn't appear to be very articulate.

I don't know too many 19 year olds who would be considered articulate..... then again - I don't know too many 19 year olds.

Thecageyone

Some people are still under the illusion that anything said online stays online.

19 is post-leaving cert/college age, pretty sure plenty of them are articulate or the country is more doomed than we could ever imagine! We'll not worry about them becoming doctors, as most of them are dyslexic anyway

Ash.J.Williams

PCPhoto wrote: »

I don't know too many 19 year olds who would be considered articulate..... then again - I don't know too many 19 year olds.

day shud bee, dare scool days r ovr?

gloobag

The girl is entitled to her opinion on anything and everything, the same as everyone else.

The only ridiculous thing about this story is that it actually became a story. A very one sided one at that.

They may as well publish a headline like: "Little Johnny, he likes apples, but hates oranges, and because of this he is the new Hitler".

magicbastarder

that story has to be the greatest waste of newspaper ink i've seen in a long while.

Thecageyone

gloobag wrote: »

The girl is entitled to her opinion on anything and everything, the same as everyone else.

The only ridiculous thing about this story is that it actually became a story. A very one sided one at that.

They may as well publish a headline like: "Little Johnny, he likes apples, but hates oranges, and because of this he is the new Hitler".

I'm all for freedom of speech and speaking your mind, but when you work for a newspaper ... blurting stupid nonsense like this out in public trying to be funny, bit stupid of her really. I agree in a sense that she shouldn't be blackened all over the paper like this, they should have just parted ways with her on the quiet if they had such issue.

artyeva

very odd story. mind you, it is the indo. it was the indo, wasn't it? and not the daily mail?

sensationalist drivvel written by a 2-bit hack reading way too much into the inane drivvel of a teenager on facebook. christ almighty don't people have little to be getting upset over!!

magicbastarder

artyeva wrote: »

very odd story. mind you, it is the indo. it was the indo, wasn't it? and not the daily mail?

the indo bought the story off the sunday life. dunno if the two papers are in the same ownership.

Thecageyone

I wouldn't call it news, more like gossip. It's the type of 'story' you'd expect to see in NOW magazine or whatever teens read these days.

stephendevlin

Thats Karma for ya lol bites ya in the ass.

paul75

The indo love writing stories about the prods having a go at the papes or the papes having a go at the prods - it's what the indo do - and what tons of people like reading about.
Since they're all supposed to be getting on famously with each other up north these days, you rarely hear of a story like this. But when one does come along, you can be sure the indo will cover it

tororosso

Thecageyone wrote: »

I'm all for freedom of speech and speaking your mind, but when you work for a newspaper ... blurting stupid nonsense like this out in public trying to be funny, bit stupid of her really. I agree in a sense that she shouldn't be blackened all over the paper like this, they should have just parted ways with her on the quiet if they had such issue.

Agreed, she should never have said it in public llike that. She can speak her mind but her opinions are callous and she has put them on the internet so they are now on public record. The subject matter she is talking about is a current news topic that is a tragedy story and she decides to express an opinion that belittle it. She is working in the same area that Michaela's husband John is from and the newspaper is supposed to cover stories of relevance to the area, such as the outpouring of public grief in the community. As somebody working for a newspaper, it is bizarre that she should publicly question the continuing relevance of the story in the press.

Somebody above questioned the newspaper report mentioning she is a Rangers fan. She is also a Linfield fan and is proud to say that Northern Ireland is not Ireland. Given the history up in Ulster, and the fact that Michaela was well known from her GAA connections etc, I think the article was right to mention all that it did as it gives us an insight into the motives for somebody to make comments like that.

artyeva

tororosso wrote: »

Somebody above questioned the newspaper report mentioning she is a Rangers fan. She is also a Linfield fan and is proud to say that Northern Ireland is not Ireland. Given the history up in Ulster, and the fact that Michaela was well known from her GAA connections etc, I think the article was right to mention all that it did as it gives us an insight into the motives for somebody to make comments like that.

so, would it have made a difference to the ''story'' if the girl had been a celtic fan, a camogie player, and an ex alter girl? of course it would - it probably wouldn't have been reported in the first place!!

were the motives for the young wan to make those comments solely based on her religion/team preference/political views? maybe not, but the hack seems to want us to infer they were. sensationalism pure and simple.

mehfesto

Has anyone found her flickr site?
Are her pics good enough so that when this blows over she'll get work again or is she done and dusted?

I reckon the only reason they're emphasizing the whole Protestant angle is that they're trying to make it out that it was sectarian motivation behind it all. Michellas father was a GAA football manager, and presumably Catholic... It's unnecessary information imo and just stirring up sh*t. In my experience religion isn't really to blame for all this hate between the two sides- just ignorance and biggotry.

I feel sorry for the family of Michella having to read things like this - and also for this idiots family too.

tororosso

artyeva wrote: »

so, would it have made a difference to the ''story'' if the girl had been a celtic fan, a camogie player, and an ex alter girl? of course it would - it probably wouldn't have been reported in the first place!!

were the motives for the young wan to make those comments solely based on her religion/team preference/political views? maybe not, but the hack seems to want us to infer they were. sensationalism pure and simple.

It would still have been reported but the story would not have had as much meat as it has with the sectarian element it has. Yes, we can all speculate that the comments might have been random and nothing to do with her background but she has made a statement about the 12th July and her being one of the chosen ones so it is not exactly a bad bet to say that her motivation for those comments came from her outlook on life. Ah well, at least she will find some photo reportage work on the 12th July I guess! :pac:

EI111

Thecageyone wrote: »

I'm all for freedom of speech and speaking your mind, but when you work for a newspaper ... blurting stupid nonsense like this out in public trying to be funny, bit stupid of her really. I agree in a sense that she shouldn't be blackened all over the paper like this, they should have just parted ways with her on the quiet if they had such issue.

See the independent is more of a rag than any tabloid. The story aims to store sectarian emotions but it also drags this unsuspecting paper in to it for no reason. If the girl was an employee of the paper I still can't see why what she says on facebook would have anything to do with her employer. The thing is she is just some immature kid who does a bit of freelance photography and who must have sold some pictures to this paper, why is the name of the paper even mentioned?

Did anyone see the article about drink depression and delusion about brian cowen? What an excuse for an article. The worst thing is enough idiots found it worthwhile enough to make it the most emailed article on the site

artyeva

tororosso wrote: »

...the story would not have had as much meat as it has...

:pac::pac::pac: if you really think that this story has ''meat'' as you put it then i'd hate to think what you consider tabloid fluff, lol!!!!

fionnsda

Its only the ramblings of a prod polly
there's thousands of them up here don't you know!
anything to do with the GAA or ireland they hate with a passion!
bigoted, every day is the twelfth of july type.

there is also hate filled text messages doing the round now from that lot!

Eirebear

tororosso wrote: »

Somebody above questioned the newspaper report mentioning she is a Rangers fan. She is also a Linfield fan and is proud to say that Northern Ireland is not Ireland. Given the history up in Ulster, and the fact that Michaela was well known from her GAA connections etc, I think the article was right to mention all that it did as it gives us an insight into the motives for somebody to make comments like that.

Oh give me a break.

She works in the same area as you mentioned, how do you know they hadnt had a run in for whatever reasons in the past? I would assume as a photographer for a local paper that there is a good chance she would at least have crossed passed with the deceased woman's father at one stage or another, who knows - maybe personal differences were the driving factor behind this rather than political?

The mention of her being a Rangers fan is simply the Independant hack looking for something to villify her, and conjure up that fear of the big bad protestant that sadly still exists in Ireland.

As for the girl herself, she's a 19 year old who has done something that she'll regret for a long time to come, and hopefully learn her lesson from it in the long run.
Worthy of national news? It's debatable.
Worthy of stirring up sectarian tension? Certainly not.

fionnsda wrote: »

Its only the ramblings of a prod polly
there's thousands of them up here don't you know!
anything to do with the GAA or ireland they hate with a passion!
bigoted, every day is the twelfth of july type.

there is also hate filled text messages doing the round now from that lot!

My god, the word ironic just doesnt do enough to describe this.....

fionnsda

it amazes me that someone who lives in Glasgow doesn't know bigotry when he sees it!
but i would expect a fellow teddy bear supporter to stick up for that silly bitch
wise up!

fionnsda

Eirebear wrote: »

Oh give me a break.

She works in the same area as you mentioned, how do you know they hadnt had a run in for whatever reasons in the past? I would assume as a photographer for a local paper that there is a good chance she would at least have crossed passed with the deceased woman's father at one stage or another, who knows - maybe personal differences were the driving factor behind this rather than political?

nonsense


The mention of her being a Rangers fan is simply the Independant hack looking for something to villify her, and conjure up that fear of the big bad protestant that sadly still exists in Ireland.

That hack got his info from her facebook page where she says that her favourite football teams include Linfield and Rangers


As for the girl herself, she's a 19 year old who has done something that she'll regret for a long time to come, and hopefully learn her lesson from it in the long run.
Worthy of national news? It's debatable.
Worthy of stirring up sectarian tension? Certainly not.

agreed

kl

Borderfox

This has gone on as far as it will