Daily Mail in reaching a new low shocker

CiaranMT

Caolan Mulrooney has been missing since last Friday night, and the search is ongoing.. However, the Mail has other ideas...

University Times

In the early hours of Friday the 2nd of December, an old classmate of mine from Cork, Caolan Mulrooney, went missing. He was seen on CCTV cameras leaving Cubins nightclub in the centre of the town, and then spotted a short time later making his way up around St. Finbarr’s Cathedral on the north side of the city. He wasn’t seen by any of his friends or family the following morning or afternoon. A search party comprised of hundreds of us subsequently searched the town inch by inch later that night, doing everything in our power to find him. Inevitably, when the examination of the streets proved fruitless, the search parties were moved down to the banks of the Marina on the south side of the city. The Daily Mail, that great bastion of accurate news reporting, decided that this was sufficient evidence to claim that Caolan’s body had been recovered from the River Lee, and then published it in their Sunday morning edition.

It was astounding that the ‘journalist’ in question, Marisa Lynch, would choose to make up a rumour about a matter so serious, so upsetting, simply to sell a few extra copies of her vile bosses’ rag. I should point out that it is not an assumption on my part to say that Ms. Lynch chose to fabricate this story. When a journalist is reporting on a scenario as devastating as this, it is imperative that they get their facts straight. If she had asked even one person searching the Marina about the investigation, never mind the Gardai, then she would’ve been told the truth. One can only assume when confronting realities such as these that Ms. Lynch either; a) Had not sufficiently researched the matter and decided it would be easier for her to make up a fantastical news story, or, b) Had researched the matter, but decided that her version of events would make for a more interesting read. This is the state of journalism today – a collection of failed newscasters with no lasting friends, who choose to manufacture outright lies for the sake of satisfying the sadistic fantasies of their editors, and boosting their own overinflated egos.

A parallel can perhaps be drawn between events like this, to the wicked reporting of another gutter tabloid. In Sheffield, 1989, a devastating tragedy occurred which shook the foundations of my hometown of Liverpool to its very core. The Hillsborough stadium disaster was a heartbreaking catastrophe which resulted in the deaths of 96 people, caused entirely by the ineptitude of the South Yorkshire Police to sufficiently monitor the turnstiles. Instead of allowing time for the families of the victims to come to terms with the event, and for a full independent investigation to be made, The Sun chose to fabricate the lie that Liverpool fans had urinated on the bodies of dead people, and stole from their pockets. Again, a malicious story which broke the hearts of real people, and for what? For the sake of selling more copies? If there is a hell, these journalists are surely bound for it.

Caolan Mulrooney has not been found yet, and the investigation is still ongoing in Cork. Anyone with any relevant information is encouraged to contact their local Garda station. But for Ms. Lynch to do what she did is a disgrace, not just to news reporting, but to human nature. I can only call on the people of Cork to react in the same way that Liverpudlians did to The Sun, by refusing to buy The Mail under any circumstances. Only by refusing to accept hurtful and malevolent journalism such as this will the tabloids ever get the message. Edward Bulwer-Lytton once said that “the pen is mightier than the sword”. He may have been right, but it’s also more cowardly.

later12

That article smells fishy to me. Surely she had some reason for thinking the body had been found. I am not buying the notion that any journalist would completely invent the facts so pointlessly and transparently as this woman is alleged to have done.

Also, on a more pedantic level, the last sentence makes no sense. The pen is more cowardly than the sword? What?

Chuck Stone

Cork shops should boycott the paper until they print a full page apology.

Yurt

Just saw this on Facebook what kind of sick person fabricates a story like this knowing full well the effect it's gonna have on the family and friends of this lad.

There has to be a campaign setup to boycott the mail.Like there is in Liverpool for the other rag.

Yurt

later10 wrote: »

That article smells fishy to me. Surely she had some reason for thinking the body had been found. I am not buying the notion that any journalist would completely invent the facts so pointlessly and transparently as this woman is alleged to have done.

Also, on a more pedantic level, the last sentence makes no sense. The pen is more cowardly than the sword? What?

You should see the Lies the Sun printed after the Hillsborough disaster

mackg

Hope they find him alive and well. This is absolutely shocking, the people involved in this story are at best a pack of idiots or else a pack of miserable *****.

LostCorkGuy

In the ucc thread they said other bodies had been pulled from the river ! Its just crappy work that she didn't check up before jumping to conclusions to get the scoop , a good editor shouldn't have left it be published but then it is the daily mail

CiaranMT

later10 wrote: »

am not buying the notion that any journalist would completely invent the facts so pointlessly and transparently as this woman is alleged to have done.

You're joking, surely...

mackg

LostCorkGuy wrote: »

In the ucc thread they said other bodies had been pulled from the river ! Its just crappy work that she didn't check up before jumping to conclusions to get the scoop , a good editor shouldn't have left it be published but then it is the daily mail

Idiots it is!

later12

CiaranMT wrote: »

You're joking, surely...

Nope.

I find it hard to believe that a couple of people sat down in a room and said 'hey, lets make up a lie that the missing kid was found dead'. I think it sounds more plausible that there was some reason why the Mail (or Marisa Lynch) believed this had happened.

Maybe they were guilty of not verifying a story or a rumour, which is unforgiveable in this context; but no, I don't believe they just made it up from thin air.

Chucky the tree

I agree with Later. It makes no sene for this girl to make up a story that will easily be found out as a lie. So won't have much of a career with the Mail or most other papers now.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

later10 wrote: »

That article smells fishy to me. Surely she had some reason for thinking the body had been found. I am not buying the notion that any journalist would completely invent the facts so pointlessly and transparently as this woman is alleged to have done.

Also, on a more pedantic level, the last sentence makes no sense. The pen is more cowardly than the sword? What?

Chucky the tree wrote: »

I agree with Later. It makes no sene for this girl to make up a story that will easily be found out as a lie. So won't have much of a career with the Mail or most other papers now.

Was it actually printed? I'd put nothing past tabloid journos, tbh,

whirlpool

Yeh, I have to say, I find it extremely hard to believe that a journalist would print a story that they knew would be proven to be wrong almost immediately, a story that would subsequently garner widespread criticism and disgust.

Yes, a large proportion of journalists are disgusting creatures with no morals and only look out for themselves - but that's exactly it; by printing such a colossal and disgusting lie on purpose, surely she would have known she was hurting nobody but herself.

Whoever wrote the UT article is being slightly hypocritical themselves too, in that he hasn't provided the journalist's side of the story, which is very unfair. This could have been an honest mistake, and even if you think that is unlikely, everybody deserves the chance to explain themselves before having very negative articles like that written about them.

El Weirdo

later10 wrote: »

Nope.

I find it hard to believe that a couple of people sat down in a room and said 'hey, lets make up a lie that the missing kid was found dead'. I think it sounds more plausible that there was some reason why the Mail (or Marisa Lynch) believed this had happened.

Maybe they were guilty of not verifying a story or a rumour, which is unforgiveable in this context; but no, I don't believe they just made it up from thin air.

Bless.

CHealy

Dont think the lad is in the river. Its a known fact that the last cctv footage of him was walking up fort st direction, which is out southside away from the city centre. So with that information coming out early on Saturday i think, I find it ridiculous how any journalist could write such a story. The Daily Rag covers itself in glory again.

Slighty off topic, theres body's being pulled out of the river down here on a daily basis the last few months, its always been a hotspot for people jumping/falling in, but the last few months have taken the biscuit. Is the Liffey the same anyone from Dublin??

Kold

St Finbarres isn't on the north side of the city...

K-9

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Cork shops should boycott the paper until they print a full page apology.

Pretty contrarian Chuck, even by your contrarian standards.

Link in my sig as to why.

Snakeblood

later10 wrote: »

Nope.

I find it hard to believe that a couple of people sat down in a room and said 'hey, lets make up a lie that the missing kid was found dead'. I think it sounds more plausible that there was some reason why the Mail (or Marisa Lynch) believed this had happened.

Maybe they were guilty of not verifying a story or a rumour, which is unforgiveable in this context; but no, I don't believe they just made it up from thin air.

It's the daily mail. Lies are their stock in trade. What do they care, they can run something on the front page, then print a retraction on page 26 under the aerobiciser ads. The Leveson inquiry on at the moment in the UK is quite educational about it.

ResearchWill

later10 wrote: »

Nope.

I find it hard to believe that a couple of people sat down in a room and said 'hey, lets make up a lie that the missing kid was found dead'. I think it sounds more plausible that there was some reason why the Mail (or Marisa Lynch) believed this had happened.

Maybe they were guilty of not verifying a story or a rumour, which is unforgiveable in this context; but no, I don't believe they just made it up from thin air.

All I will say is Bishop Casey interview that never happened.

danniemcq

the daily fail is one of those papers that i lose instant respect for as soon as i see someone reading it.

wish they were involved in a hacking scandel so they'd shut down too and make this workd a nice and happier place without their bile on the newstands

gemma188

Can anyone provide a link to the Daily Mail article? I'd rather not make a comment until I actually read what the journalist wrote.

padd b1975

later10 wrote: »

Nope.

I find it hard to believe that a couple of people sat down in a room and said 'hey, lets make up a lie that the missing kid was found dead'. I think it sounds more plausible that there was some reason why the Mail (or Marisa Lynch) believed this had happened.

Maybe they were guilty of not verifying a story or a rumour, which is unforgiveable in this context; but no, I don't believe they just made it up from thin air.

That same argument could apply regarding The Sun and what they printed about Liverpool fans.

Paparazzo

later10 wrote: »

Nope.

I find it hard to believe that a couple of people sat down in a room and said 'hey, lets make up a lie that the missing kid was found dead'. I think it sounds more plausible that there was some reason why the Mail (or Marisa Lynch) believed this had happened.

Maybe they were guilty of not verifying a story or a rumour, which is unforgiveable in this context; but no, I don't believe they just made it up from thin air.

There was an article in the guardian by a guy who used to work for the mail. He said he used to completely make complete stories up off the top of his head

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Paparazzo wrote: »

There was an article in the guardian by a guy who used to work for the mail. He said he used to completely make complete stories up off the top of his head

There was an article on the sun about the guy in the guardian who used to work for the mail. It was on page three.

Anita Blow

whirlpool wrote: »

This could have been an honest mistake, and even if you think that is unlikely, everybody deserves the chance to explain themselves before having very negative articles like that written about them.

Publishing that a missing student has been found dead in a river when he hasn't.
Quite the 'honest' mistake to make.

Zonda999

Just the kind of thing i'd expect from this rag, disgusting story to go to print despite the lack of one iota of confirmation of it being true..

Wonder how the family felt hearing about the publication of that story yesterday..

gemma188

Anita Blow wrote: »

Publishing that a missing student has been found dead in a river when he hasn't.
Quite the 'honest' mistake to make.

Have you read the article? I'm not saying what was in the original post is not true but I think people should actually read what was written before attacking the journalist.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

gemma188 wrote: »

Have you read the article? I'm not saying what was in the original post is not true but I think people should actually read what was written before attacking the journalist.

No, but I have pointed out that I'm not 100% convinced that the journalist in question actually forwarded the stroy for printing.

I Heart Internet

"In the early hours of Friday the 2nd of December, an old classmate of mine from Cork, Caolan Mulrooney, went missing. He was seen on CCTV cameras leaving Cubins nightclub in the centre of the town, and then spotted a short time later making his way up around St. Finbarr’s Cathedral on the north side of the city."


This article talks about accuracy in media reporting. I know the two are at different ends of the scale, but just to be clear, St. Finbarr's Cathedral is on the south side of the city.

If you want to give out about accuracy (and you should) then best to get your own facts straight.

Edit: I see Kold has pointed out the error

BlimpyBoy

Anyone have a link to the Daily Mail article? I can't find it anywhere.

baltimore sun

BlimpyBoy wrote: »

Anyone have a link to the Daily Mail article? I can't find it anywhere.

+1 can't find any trace of it.

super_furry

They don't put their 'Oirish' articles online oddly enough. Wouldn't do for all the right-wing little Englanders to think that their paper is pandering to the colonies.

It is funny when they get themselves in a muddle though and you end with stuff like this - http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/18/bad-science-cancer-jabs-daily-mail

thebigbiffo

It's a very small 2 column x 5 cm high piece, probably about 120 words or so, top left hand corner (traditionally the least favoured part of the paper for either adverts or articles) and over a large article relating to how the Irish would love Gdansk.

this was a genuine mistake on the part of the journo by the looks of it. it's simply too big a deal to lie about a story for the sake of filler space like this. an article relating to him going missing would fill the space just as easily. there's no question that this was a fabrication intended to sell papers, it's in a s'hit position on page 8 ffs.

some of you a'ssholes should consider the facts if you're going to go on rants about journo's not getting their facts straight. fact is - this article looks like nothing more malicious than a journo being misinformed by a trusted source. she should clarify though exactly what happened.

mod: poster banned.

danniemcq

thebigbiffo wrote: »

It's a very small 2 column x 5 cm high piece, probably about 120 words or so, top left hand corner (traditionally the least favoured part of the paper for either adverts or articles) and over a large article relating to how the Irish would love Gdansk.

this was a genuine mistake on the part of the journo by the looks of it. it's simply too big a deal to lie about a story for the sake of filler space like this. an article relating to him going missing would fill the space just as easily. there's no question that this was a fabrication intended to sell papers, it's in a s'hit position on page 8 ffs.

some of you a'ssholes should consider the facts if you're going to go on rants about journo's not getting their facts straight. fact is - this article looks like nothing more malicious than a journo being misinformed by a trusted source. she should clarify though exactly what happened.

can people stop saying it was a genuine mistake? it wasn't

it was useless reporting abilities, it was a useless editor, it was a useless journalist.

A mistake would have been a typo. This is terrible and imho unforgivable. If any friends or relatives were reading it can you imagine what they would have felt.

I really hope the so called journalist and editor are hung out to dry on this along with all the other bigoted and hate filled journalists in the paper

jim2009

Simon201

thebigbiffo wrote: »

It's a very small 2 column x 5 cm high piece, probably about 120 words or so, top left hand corner

it's in a s'hit position on page 8 ffs.

Ah I understand now. So the smaller the font etc and the more buried an article is in the paper, the less truthful it has to be, yeah?

El Weirdo

jim2009 wrote: »

Cheers.

Any chance of the rest of it?

(Christ, I can't believe I'm actually asking for a Daily Mail article to be posted.)

jim2009

i dont have the paper my self,one of the people on my facebook had the picture,not sure why the didnt take a proper photo.

edit.
ill ask them anyway and see what they say.

John Doe1

She should be sacked at once

BlimpyBoy

jim2009 wrote: »

Even if it was a genuine mistake that's no excuse, especially for something as serious as this.

I think she deserves to be sacked but she probably fits in quite well at the Daily Mail.

super_furry

Has there been any apology from the rag?

Fratton Fred

super_furry wrote: »

They don't put their 'Oirish' articles online oddly enough. Wouldn't do for all the right-wing little Englanders to think that their paper is pandering to the colonies.

It is funny when they get themselves in a muddle though and you end with stuff like this - http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/18/bad-science-cancer-jabs-daily-mail

That reminds me of the Rant the indo had about Tesco a while back, accusing them of ripping people off in the RoI and it ran a dozen or so price comparisons.

The article however forgot to mention that the Indo in northern ireland costs half what it does in the south.

amacachi

While the Max Moseley story made for some good chuckles and so on I could never understand why he took it so far. He believes the story played a part in his (already a recovering drug addict) son's suicide. He's been backing cases where the plaintiffs can't cover legal costs for the last couple of years. The media both here and in the UK is unregulated (good on paper) but when they do tell blatant lies it still takes massive time and money to get through court hearings etc.

Hopefully yer man somehow turns up OK anyway.

Leftist

Can't believe people are defending the Daily Mail, based merely on their perceptions of common decency. Laughable.

jim2009

interview here with his father if any one wants a listen.no mention of the article tho.

http://soundcloud.com/pj-coogan/0512-eugene-mulrooney-with

Corkboi

The Daily Mail is notorious for bad journalism and I think this is another case of this. The reporter was at fault for not verifying the story and being just plain careless.

jpfahy

hmmm, sounds like the reporter got information that was incorrect and didn't double check it. That shouldn't happen but was hardly done deliberately.
On the other hand, the Daily Mail is the only paper that has dared to expose scandals in Ireland and is to be commended for that. In yesterdays paper they reveal the fact that Enda Kenny personally intervened to get a buddy of his appointed as a government advisor at 35,000pa over the salary cap. You won't find the Denis O'Brien papers breaking a story like that. The Daily Mail, for all it's faults has led the way in exposing corruption in this country.

BlimpyBoy

jpfahy wrote: »

hmmm, sounds like the reporter got information that was incorrect and didn't double check it. That shouldn't happen but was hardly done deliberately.
On the other hand, the Daily Mail is the only paper that has dared to expose scandals in Ireland and is to be commended for that. In yesterdays paper they reveal the fact that Enda Kenny personally intervened to get a buddy of his appointed as a government advisor at 35,000pa over the salary cap. You won't find the Denis O'Brien papers breaking a story like that. The Daily Mail, for all it's faults has led the way in exposing corruption in this country.

The only problem with that is that most people will not take the Daily Mail seriously even if they do try to run stories that expose corruption.

If they won't even bother to check their facts on whether a man has been found dead or not, I'm going to be wondering if they have their facts right about Enda and his buddies.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

BlimpyBoy wrote: »

The only problem with that is that most people will not take the Daily Mail seriously even if they do try to run stories that expose corruption.

If they won't even bother to check their facts on whether a man has been found dead or not, I'm going to be wondering if they have their facts right about Enda and his buddies.

True. And corrupt politicians are tricky to get rid of at the best of times.

RachaelVO

"Daily Mail in reaching a new low shocker"

Failing to see the "shocker" element. That rag has always been, and will probably continue to be so full of it's own self pontificating, self righteous right wing bullsh1t that nothing in this should surprise anyone.

God help that young mans family and friends. They must be climbing the walls with worry, and then the Mail think that they can go ahead and print something to this effect? In Ireland there are laws about informing next of kin in the case of a death, before it's announced officially, I have to assume it's the same in the case of a missing person. Surely they have now broken the law? I won't even go into the morality of what they did, I'm not sure they'd give a rats a$$!

DingosAteMyBaby

I actually read the article on Sunday morning before work and obviously took it as fact, as it wouldn't even cross my mind that it would be fabricated/wrong. We had missing posters up and I later that day said to my manager to take them down as he had been found. I know it's extremely unlikely, but what if someone had walked in that day, seen the poster and knew something that could've helped. Absolutely ridiculous and despicable that this made it to print. I will never buy that rag again.