Heartless journalists

MagicSean

http://www.herald.ie/news/schoolgirl-10-killed-taking-shortcut-home-2934552.html

A SCHOOLGIRL was crushed to death as she crossed a road just yards from her home last night.

Ten-year-old Louise Fleming was crossing the busy N81 with three friends at Blessington, Co Wicklow when she was struck by an oncoming car.

The children were en-route from the Blessington Orchard estate to the nearby Texaco service station at around 5.40pm when the tragedy occurred.

Little Louise's father Maurice was too distraught to talk today when the Herald called to their home but locals said everybody was "numb with grief".

Louise and her pals had made their way from their homes, up a grassy bank and through a hole in the wire fence that is a shortcut to the road.

The young girl -- who was a pupil at St Mary's Senior National School in Blessington -- suffered fatal injuries.

She was rushed to Naas General Hospital but was pronounced dead a short time later.

The spot where she was knocked down is visible from the Fleming house yards away.

A bouquet of flowers and a teddy bear were placed at the spot where Louise had come through the wire fence.

Neighbours told the Herald that local kids use a few different holes in the fencing to take short cuts to the Texaco shop.

West Wicklow TD Billy Timmins told the Herald today that the incident had left the community "numb with grief".

"Louise's death is a devastating tragedy.

"My sympathies are with her family at this difficult time. People in Blessington are numb with grief."

Principal of St Mary's School Gerry Brown said: "She was a lovely girl and our hearts go out to the family."

It is the second incident on the N81 in the space of two weeks, after a man in this thirties was struck while out sweeping leaves. He is currently in a critical condition in Naas General Hospital.

Local sources said stretches of the N81 are "treacherous".

The young girl's death comes just weeks after local hero Garda Jones was swept away amid devastating floods.

Garda Jones, of Kilbride, was attempting to assist locals with the floods when he drowned.

First of all I would like to extend my condolences to the family and friends of this little girl. A tragic day. May she rest in peace.

I just want to draw your attention to the part I have put in bold. What kind of heartless bastard tries to interview a grieving father within 24 hours of him losing his young daughter? I'm disgusted.

super_furry

MagicSean wrote: »

What kind of heartless bastard tries to interview a grieving father within 24 hours of him losing his young daughter? I'm disgusted.

The kind that scrawls for a scummy little rag like The Herald. I'm surprised they didn't just make up some quotes.

hondasam

It might not be nice but it's a journalists job, people use the press when it suits them.

RIP to the child and my thoughts are with her family.

rockmongrel

hondasam wrote: »

It might not be nice but it's a journalists job, people use the press when it suits them.

Calling people who work at the Herald and other tabloids journalists is an insult to the profession.

kincsem

Journalist probably sent by editor.

Frank Black

hondasam wrote: »

It might not be nice but it's a journalists job, people use the press when it suits them.

RIP to the child and my thoughts are with her family.

It's only their job because that's what their editor decided.

Would never buy that rag of a paper anyway, this just confirms I've made a correct choice.

Saila

journalests, great bunch a lads

My name is URL

So that's how low the Herald can go

Havermeyer

kincsem wrote: »

Journalist probably sent by editor.

That's exactly what it is. And although it's terrible for the family, and I'm not condoning it being done, I wouldn't imagine it's too nice for the journalist either - who would usually, in cases like this, be quite low down the pecking order.

Sooopie

black francis wrote: »

It's only their job because that's what their editor decided.

Would never buy that rag of a paper anyway, this just confirms I've made a correct choice.

recommend me a good paper to read, black francis

you seem to know the score

starbelgrade

OP reads Herald website.

OP complains about person sent to do his job.

OP re-prints entire article.

Newspaper wins.

OP loses.

Yakult

Just doing their job unfortunately. Theirs obviously a hierarchy and a journalist (Unless freelance) will be told what to do or lose their job. Heartless corporations more like it

MagicSean

starbelgrade wrote: »

OP reads Herald website.

OP complains about person sent to do his job.

OP re-prints entire article.

Newspaper wins.

OP loses.

Actually I quoted the whole article because I wanted to also bring attention to the tragedy itself.

Sooopie

MagicSean wrote: »

Actually I quoted the whole article because I wanted to also bring attention to the tragedy itself.

you've lost some of your magic, sean

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

It's the hearld - journalist never went, they just wrote what would have happened if they had.

flutterflye

I don't buy this "just doing their job" bs.
If part of my job was to be so cold and callous, then I would say "no".
If that got me fired, well so be it.
I'd rather do something that didn't cause upset to grieving families.

themadchef

hondasam wrote: »

It might not be nice but it's a journalists job, people use the press when it suits them.

I dont agree. He can interview the priest, the road safety authority spokesperson, the council spokesperson, the local how'ya's, anyone.....fúcking cheek to ring the familys doorbell.

These journo's are long enough on the go to know exactly who to talk to.

That Mammy and Daddy, their little hearts are broken in two do ya think they can even put a sentance together right now? I doubt i could in their shoes. God bless them. So close to Christmas too.

I know everyone has a job to do, but there should be an unwritten rule, a line in the sand in every profession imo.

abouttobebanned

I don't understand this tbh.

I studied journalism in college and it was a great education for me. I learned, first and foremost, that I didn't want to be a journalist. I mean what kind of soundbite did the reporter expect to get? That man's life is over, he ain't the story, his comment is not needed.

I started a thread in the Waterford forum last week and the story I wrote about became a front page piece in the local paper down here. I know exactly how it happened too. Journalist reads boards every day hoping to see someone juicy. Finds a story about a Rottweiler attacking a little yorkie...rings the pound and rings the vet. Takes my info and quotes to fabricate a quote "from a witness that contacted us" and hey presto a front page story without doing a whole lot of work.

So many journalists have lost interest in their profession.

hondasam

themadchef wrote: »

I dont agree. He can interview the priest, the road safety authority spokesperson, the council spokesperson, the local how'ya's, anyone.....fúcking cheek to ring the familys doorbell.

These journo's are long enough on the go to know exactly who to talk to.

I think it's better to speak to the family rather than to ask strangers. Who wants to walk into their local shop to find their loved one all over the papers with quotes from strangers.
Lets not forget the pictures they take from Facebook.

K-9

It does seem inappropriate and insensitive.

Given the right context it can be powerful. Denis Murray had a mini series about his time as the BBC correspondent in the North. He spoke about the time he interviewed a mother about her son murdered, very soon after it happened. He did wonder why he was doing it but it did really bring home the effect of what was happening in Northern Ireland at the time. Hard to know if interviews like that had any effect on the eventual peace agreement.

Scruffles

it is clear that these journos have become to hardened to reality in their quest to gain sensationalism and glory above other tabloids.
media is a tough game,they have targets to meet- there is a lot of pressure on tabloid journos in particular to go deep into the dirty undergrowth of news in order to stay a part of the team or a regular freelancer so many will see a good story instead of the burden left by a fatal road traffic accident.


though one good thing is they are not all a discredit to the trade,can think of many who do respect the people behind their stories and clean journalism.

& from personal experience through sister and her boyfriend; know several with the BBC-her boyfriend sometimes is one [an ocasional reporter for bbc norwich] a mate of both of theirs who is a popular bbc news reporter,and they have another mate who is a freelance tabloid reporter,its incredible some of the assignments they get but its only because theyre a credit to the industry,well...not really including the bro in law as he isnt a journo by trade though he gets brownie points for P/ing off the manager of norwich football club live on air a few years ago.
>waffle finished.

Callipo

MagicSean wrote: »

http://www.herald.ie/news/schoolgirl-10-killed-taking-shortcut-home-2934552.html



First of all I would like to extend my condolences to the family and friends of this little girl. A tragic day. May she rest in peace.

I just want to draw your attention to the part I have put in bold. What kind of heartless bastard tries to interview a grieving father within 24 hours of him losing his young daughter? I'm disgusted.

read that in the paper earlier today OP and said to the missus that those twats need to be punched, just once but quite hard, in the face for doing that.

Regardless who made them they should have some fukin brains to gauge a situation.

Conor Feehan and Niall O'Connor appear to be the journos. I wonder are they on the usual social media.....

RichieC

and it's illegal for a people to sell themselves for sex............

Jimoslimos

I'm not sure I see what all the outrage is about. I'm sure in cases like this the parents are innundated with friends, relatives and people they might only have a brief acquaintance with.

Herald guy goes and offers his condolensces first (I hope), asks if they'd like to say anything, maybe a quote about their daughter that they might like to be remembered by a wider audience - they say no, a private matter - journalist respects this.

I mean if the local TD can comment on it, and most probably attend the funeral - what's the difference between that and the herald being there?

Son Of A Vidic

People can say that the journalist was doing his job. But surely a little bit of tact, cop on and sensitivity is something you would expect from any competent journalist.

Minstrel27

I remember a TV3 scumbag and his camera man going to the door of a grieving family less than 24 hours after a car crash

Callipo

Jimoslimos wrote: »

I'm not sure I see what all the outrage is about. I'm sure in cases like this the parents are innundated with friends, relatives and people they might only have a brief acquaintance with.

Herald guy goes and offers his condolensces first (I hope), asks if they'd like to say anything, maybe a quote about their daughter that they might like to be remembered by a wider audience - they say no, a private matter - journalist respects this.

I mean if the local TD can comment on it, and most probably attend the funeral - what's the difference between that and the herald being there?

.
If (and I hope not) your mum or dad dies in a horrible way I hope you feel the same.

southsiderosie

MagicSean wrote: »

http://www.herald.ie/news/schoolgirl-10-killed-taking-shortcut-home-2934552.html



First of all I would like to extend my condolences to the family and friends of this little girl. A tragic day. May she rest in peace.

I just want to draw your attention to the part I have put in bold. What kind of heartless bastard tries to interview a grieving father within 24 hours of him losing his young daughter? I'm disgusted.

One of my old housemates used to be a tabloid reporter, and on the (thankfully rare) occasions when her editor gave her assignments like this, she wouldn't actually go, and would just tell him later that the family didn't want to talk to the press.

Shanotheslayer

flutterflye wrote: »

I don't buy this "just doing their job" bs.
If part of my job was to be so cold and callous, then I would say "no".
If that got me fired, well so be it.
I'd rather do something that didn't cause upset to grieving families.

Well, why would you apply to a job that would be cold and callous in the first place if that's not what you wanted?

flutterflye

Shanotheslayer wrote: »

Well, why would you apply to a job that would be cold and callous in the first place if that's not what you wanted?

Maybe you were interested in other parts of journalism?
Who knows.

There are always parts to your job that you don't like, but I draw the line at hurting others.

Posy

black francis wrote: »

It's only their job because that's what their editor decided.

nummnutts wrote: »

I wouldn't imagine it's too nice for the journalist either - who would usually, in cases like this, be quite low down the pecking order.

I remember reading John Walsh's book 'Tears of Rage' about the abduction of his six year old son. Shortly after he and his wife were told the remains of their son had been found and he had been murdered (the remains were their little boy's severed head, found in a canal) they were hounded by journalists trying to get a quote from them.
Apparently one journalist showed up at their door and begged for a quote, saying 'Please, my boss will fire me if I don't come back with anything.'
John Walsh said he just lost it. Screamed at her to get off his lawn and to send the f**king boss to do his own dirty work.

There's a time to call at somebody's home and there's a time to let people grieve and come to terms with having their lives shattered. Less than 24 hours after the sudden death of a child, is not the time.

orourkeda

Most journalists lack a brain as well as a heart

Bosco boy

Standards in journalism are at an all time low, there are only a handful of decent journalists out there, it's editors like Angus fanning in the Sunday independent that have set these standards and others followed. They are all rag papers at this stage. The local papers are where any decent journalism is now!

echosound

southsiderosie wrote: »

One of my old housemates used to be a tabloid reporter, and on the (thankfully rare) occasions when her editor gave her assignments like this, she wouldn't actually go, and would just tell him later that the family didn't want to talk to the press.

I used to work in media too, and was sometimes asked to go out and cover tragedies. Did the same myself - would go talk to the local priest/have a chat to some locals/guards/emergency service staff and refused to call to the families affected, just told my superiors that they didn't want to talk to the media.

I used to be disgusted seeing other journalists hanging around outside family homes trying to wear them down for a quote. Poor families barricaded in with curtains closed, other people calling to pay their respects doorstepped by journos trying to get a quote or a foot in the door. Could never do that to anyone myself (note - only saw this as I was given direct orders to go to the house and try to get to the family, so I'd just drive straight past the house to make sure I could describe the area if I was put on the spot as to my whereabouts).

I don't work in media anymore :pac:

Some will try any tactic to get any story they can use - a friend of mine discovered a murder victim's body which had been dumped in countryside some years back, and after the dicovery was reported etc, a woman called up to my friend's door the next day dressed in navy pants, navy jacket and pale blue shirt with brass buttons, looking for all the world like it was a garda uniform.

My friend was naturally still very shaken and upset, and didn't think to question the woman on whether she was a guard or not, just assumed she was, and was taking a futher statement.

Friend got suspicious with the line of questions, turned out it was a tabloid journo chancing her arm, never introduced herself etc. The journo got thrown out of the house and told by my friend that she didn't agree to an interview and didn't want any of what she said being quoted, unfortunately of course the journo was happy enough to head off and add some legs and tails to what my friend had already said and print it all anyway (adding some colour and drama about "the traumatised witness" and speculations as to the identity of the murder victim, vaguely attributed to my friend etc).

Bosco boy

echosound wrote: »

southsiderosie wrote: »

One of my old housemates used to be a tabloid reporter, and on the (thankfully rare) occasions when her editor gave her assignments like this, she wouldn't actually go, and would just tell him later that the family didn't want to talk to the press.

I used to work in media too, and was sometimes asked to go out and cover tragedies. Did the same myself - would go talk to the local priest/have a chat to some locals/guards/emergency service staff and refused to call to the families affected, just told my superiors that they didn't want to talk to the media.

I used to be disgusted seeing other journalists hanging around outside family homes trying to wear them down for a quote. Poor families barricaded in with curtains closed, other people calling to pay their respects doorstepped by journos trying to get a quote or a foot in the door. Could never do that to anyone myself (note - only saw this as I was given direct orders to go to the house and try to get to the family, so I'd just drive straight past the house to make sure I could describe the area if I was put on the spot as to my whereabouts).

I don't work in media anymore :pac:

Some will try any tactic to get any story they can use - a friend of mine discovered a murder victim's body which had been dumped in countryside some years back, and after the dicovery was reported etc, a woman called up to my friend's door the next day dressed in navy pants, navy jacket and pale blue shirt with brass buttons, looking for all the world like it was a garda uniform.

My friend was naturally still very shaken and upset, and didn't think to question the woman on whether she was a guard or not, just assumed she was, and was taking a futher statement.

Friend got suspicious with the line of questions, turned out it was a tabloid journo chancing her arm, never introduced herself etc. The journo got thrown out of the house and told by my friend that she didn't agree to an interview and didn't want any of what she said being quoted, unfortunately of course the journo was happy enough to head off and add some legs and tails to what my friend had already said and print it all anyway (adding some colour and drama about "the traumatised witness" and speculations as to the identity of the murder victim, vaguely attributed to my friend etc).

Fair play to you for having cop on, you were obviously to decent for the job!

echosound

^^ thanks wasn't trying to make myself out to be great or anything, just always remain astounded at the lack of empathy and humanity some journos display. Although it has to be said a lot of journos are merely taking orders and put under pressure by superiors for often times a pretty sh1tty wage, and there's a queue of others lining up behind them to take the job if they won't do it. It wasn't a lifetime career for me.

FFS a person's life has been extinguished, let their family grieve, why would having a quote from the poor father in this case have "improved" the "story". Let the poor man try to deal with the loss of his little daughter without banging his door down to badger him.
Last thing I'd want even in normal happy day-to-day life is some stranger banging on my door looking for a quote to run in various forms of media, let alone having it happen the worst day of my life in the midst of an awful trauma.

hondasam

Do journalists not want to be the first with the story. Nothing sells papers like Tragic stories.

Helix

journalists wouldnt write this kind of story if people didnt want to read it

fact

hondasam

Helix wrote: »

journalists wouldnt write this kind of story if people didnt want to read it

fact

This is the problem, we all read it, does that make us as bad as the journalist?

Helix

hondasam wrote: »

This is the problem, we all read it, does that make us as bad as the journalist?

its makes you worse, because you're creating demand for these kind of stories. the journalist is just doing his job in giving the people what they want

Gyalist

Clearly there is some sort of hierarchy of people whose family ought to be allowed "space to grieve". Or is it different because it's an Irish child and therefore much closer to home?
Child dies in tragic road accident in Ireland, space to grieve; child dies in it's mother's arms in Africa, not so much.

hondasam

Helix wrote: »

its makes you worse, because you're creating demand for these kind of stories. the journalist is just doing his job in giving the people what they want

Such is life, tragedies happen, media report it and we the public read it.
Is reading about it on boards not just as bad?

K-9

Ah, the contrarians have arrived!

As I posted already I do think there is a time and a place for these type of pieces, NI eg. in the late 80's and early 90's.

This one I don't really see the greater good argument.

I'd say if the father had given the interview the point wouldn't have been raised at all! Nobody would have noticed.

Bosco boy

How someone could have the neck to compound the agony of these people at this time says what type of person they are and the type of profession the represent. No justification in my opinon can be made for calling to that families door at this time! They did not need it and the public didn't need it either. Shame on the journalist and shame on the paper.

Helix

Bosco boy wrote: »

How someone could have the neck to compound the agony of these people at this time says what type of person they are and the type of profession the represent. No justification in my opinon can be made for calling to that families door at this time! They did not need it and the public didn't need it either. Shame on the journalist and shame on the paper.

the public dont need it, but by christ they want it

Helix

hondasam wrote: »

Such is life, tragedies happen, media report it and we the public read it.
Is reading about it on boards not just as bad?

depends on the context really

hondasam

Helix wrote: »

depends on the context really

Bull****, someone starts a thread here, everyone reads it, same thing as reading the paper,
if the op of any thread is so annoyed about something why highlight it further by posting it on a public forum.

kraggy

hondasam wrote: »

Bull****, someone starts a thread here, everyone reads it, same thing as reading the paper,
if the op of any thread is so annoyed about something why highlight it further by posting it on a public forum.

To bring attention to how scummy the paper is in the hope that people won't buy it?

The mantra "no such thing as bad publicity" is a load of bollix.

This thread would only reinforce my existing policy to not but that rag.

abouttobebanned

The only thing this thread reinforces for me is my belief that whatever topic of thread starts in boards there will always be people - contrarians as they were called, excellently, by a poster above - who will disagree. The funny thing is...for a lot of them, theyre just disagreeing for the sake of it...peed off at seeing so many people agreeing with one thing they feel they must be an individual and go against the tide.

The person that said we demand thIs so paper's provide it - that's nonsense. Irish people know grief as much as any other country...we know or at least can imagine how a parent must feel if they lose a child. We don't need to read a quote cause we know what it would or wouldn't say. We read whatever a paper decides to print - that's if we have chosen to be a buyer of that paper in the first place.

I will admit that a lot of Irish people seem to have an unhealthy obsession with bad news and the retelling of it, but we do have a healthy respect for the respect of the grieving.

SV

Helix wrote: »

its makes you worse, because you're creating demand for these kind of stories. the journalist is just doing his job in giving the people what they want

Who's worse, the person who creates the snuff movies or the person who buys them?

Ellis Dee

Those "heartless journalists" are, in a way, just whores. They write the kind of crap they know their editors and the newspapers' proprietors expect, because otherwise they are unlikely to have a job for long. But the editors and proprietors, in turn, know what the readers want. And that is the vicarious pleasure of voyeuristically savouring the grief and unhappiness of others. Everyone who buys those papers is aiding and abetting in this parasitical exploitation and bears part of the guilt.:mad::mad::mad: