Coverage of Liam Lawlors death

bookiebasher · 23-10-2005 05:09PM #1

disgraceful coverage from the papers including the Independent that the woman in the car was a prostitute.How could they know this at that early stage of proceedings

Hagar · 23-10-2005 05:32PM

There are two threads on Mr Lawlor's death already.
Even I haven't the heart to participate in this one.

Ajnag · 23-10-2005 05:39PM

Im all for free speech until it disagrees with me :rolleyes:

RuggieBear · 23-10-2005 05:42PM

well he can hardly sue them can he?

BuffyBot · 23-10-2005 05:48PM

How could they know this at that early stage of proceedings

Well I'd imagine the Police in Moscow have a reasonable idea..

Capt'n Midnight · 23-10-2005 07:06PM

The article reported what the Moscow Police stated. Also they were on the road to the airport at 1am, no luggage was found and I don't think there are that many flights he or someone dropped off at the airport could have taken around that time

Maybe we should have a whip around for the girl (a non-national) paper said she didn't have a passport. Of course she could be the daughter of a business associate.

Maskhadov · 23-10-2005 08:32PM

was the girl a whore or not ? the family kicked up a fuss about it but at the end of the day all the fingers do point in one direction.

cyclopath2001 · 23-10-2005 08:42PM

Maskhadov wrote:

was the girl a whore or not ? the family kicked up a fuss about it but at the end of the day all the fingers do point in one direction.

This from RTE

Lawlor family 'saddened' by media coverage http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/1023/lawlorl.html

....According to diplomatic sources in Moscow, she worked as an interpreter and had accompanied Liam Lawlor to Moscow on a business trip....

So which is correct, the Independent's 'police sources' or RTE's 'diplomatic sources'?

HelterSkelter · 23-10-2005 08:43PM

All references to the girl being a prostitute have disappeared from the online edition on the Independent.

Maskhadov · 23-10-2005 08:45PM

no way !! talk about the media getting it all pete tong. A real cigarette in the eye for the family. That was lazy journalism if i ever saw it.

Sparky · 23-10-2005 08:50PM

well they did say on tv3 that they were passing the RED light district and when a woman was mentioned to be in the back off the car,it makes things look bad.

HelterSkelter · 23-10-2005 08:53PM

Sparky_S wrote:

well they did say on tv3 that they were passing the RED light district and when a woman was mentioned to be in the back off the car,it makes things look bad.

That means nothing. I pass Dublin's "Red Light District" everytime I go to the airport.

dahamsta · 23-10-2005 08:55PM

News Just In. Diplomats In First Ever Cover Up. Film At 11.

23-10-2005 10:00PM

Moved
This one is more of a news and media thread.

Brendan552004 · 23-10-2005 10:22PM

According to RTE the girl was a Ukranian translator who worked in Prague and had travelled on the plane from Prague.

Dead men cannot sue for Libel, I am sure that the Indo hacks are aware of this.

I am not a Liam Lawlor admirer, but I think that this time the Indo have hit a very special low.

24-10-2005 09:39AM

Brendan552004 wrote:

Dead men cannot sue for Libel, I am sure that the Indo hacks are aware of this.

True.

However, she can.

The suggestion or innuendo that someone is a prostitute is one of the four areas of defamation that ar actionable per se. She would not have to prove any special damages or particular loss, unlike other defamation cases.

If she cleans out the Indo, and the journo and editor who ran with this story end up on the dole, it will be a great day for proper investigative journalism in Ireland, and another blow for the gutter press.

whiskeyman · 24-10-2005 11:11AM

http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/1024/lawlorl.html
Star editor apologies on the Pat Kenny show:

The paper's front-page story today clarifies the story and makes clear that the woman who was injured in the crash was an interpreter and not a prostitute.

John Downing said the report in yesterday's paper was wrong and 'should not have happened'.

He said the mistake occurred during what he described as a 'bushfire' as the story about the crash broke.

No surprise it's also in the same stable as the SIndo which ran with more or less the same headline.
Have yet to hear anything from them, but hope they burn for this.
This "newspaper" is just a joke.

The level they have stooped to is beyond belief. I dont care if this was due to a "bushfire" of information as reports came it.
It's like reporting news of a plane incident as an Al-Queda attack, when all that happened was smoke coming from the cockpit.

And did anyone read Eoghan Harris's piece on thanking Ahmed Chabali for Rory Carrols released??
Unbelieveable.

(btw, I still browse the Sindo as my Mum still buys this rag... she says so as she doesnt buy and other "thrash" mags like Hello or VIP and its where she gets all her gossip!)

24-10-2005 11:25AM

How would a journalist for the Independant feel if everyone believed they were caught kerb crawling...

whiskeyman · 24-10-2005 11:57AM

Deleted User wrote:

How would a journalist for the Independant feel if everyone believed they were caught kerb crawling...

depends on how many papers they shifted with the story tbh...:rolleyes:

finfacts · 24-10-2005 02:00PM

whiskeyman wrote:

depends on how many papers they shifted with the story tbh...:rolleyes:

The MD of Independent Newspapers said on RTE's News at One that they had made a serious mistake and will apologise directly to the family.

The Indo MD said that they were relying on a guy who had been used by the Guardian in the past.

Linking a politician with sex was simply too juicy to have facts get in the way.

Even if it had been a prostitute in a journalists car or politician's car, what relevance should it have anyway?

Some years ago, the Irish Times reported that an editor at the INdo Group was sent on an "anger management course" following an incident. One can wonder how he would have liked to have some paparazzi pics in rival newspapers?

bookiebasher · 24-10-2005 02:18PM

A Fanning Should Resign ...his Position Is Untenable.he Gave The Go Ahead To Run The Story

whiskeyman · 24-10-2005 02:19PM

finfacts wrote:

The MD of Independent Newspapers said on RTE's News at One that they had made a serious mistake and will apologise directly to the family.

Michael Denieffe, Managing Ed of Indep Newspapers, admitted the article was "inaccurate".
Asked by the RTE reporter if "inaccurate" was the best he could manage, he replied "until all the facts come out, I'm not in the position to go into that any further".
Yet, they published this on the front page of Ireland biggest selling Sunday "newspaper" seemingly without any facts at all.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/1024/lawlorl.html
full interviews on RTE here.
They're making a balls of this.... and I'm loving it!!

monument · 24-10-2005 06:09PM

finfacts wrote:

The Indo MD said that they were relying on a guy who had been used by the Guardian in the past.

Apprently not only in the past... from Sunday's Observer...

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1598794,00.html

"It is known that, while on regular trips to Prague, Lawlor, the first Irish politician to be jailed for corruption, visited brothels and sex clubs in the Czech capital"....

"Asked about the relationship between Lawlor and the girl, the police spokesman said: 'They were not close friends. She does not have a passport and appears to be Ukrainian. I can only assume that they met in the street.'

Moscow police sources said they suspected she had been working as a prostitute. It is unclear what Lawlor was doing in Moscow but during investigations into his corrupt lifestyle it emerged he had extensive business interests across the former Soviet bloc, particularly in Prague."

I'll ask their Readers' Editor what he thinks of all of this...

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/readerseditor/0,8221,464507,00.html

Syke · 24-10-2005 06:14PM

Ya know, I used to read the indo the odd time, mainly cos it was online but also cos I like the soccer writers.

I don't think I'll ever buy it again. I'm tempted to mail them to say that. did they even print an apology today. I saw tha they covered the interpreter story.

Anyone got the email to the editor.

lostexpectation · 24-10-2005 06:24PM

did the guy from the guardian have a grudge, is he the one that wrote the telegraph story, was there a russian policeman at all?

where did the bits that,

he was well known for frequenting prostitutes vs he was well known for rescuing prostitues come from?

can't find the link to telegraph story anymore

mike65 · 24-10-2005 06:40PM

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1598794,00.html

still there....Henry McDonalds stock has dropped a few points methinks.

Mike.

monument · 24-10-2005 06:53PM

lostexpectation wrote:

did the guy from the guardian

McDonald is actually the Ireland editor of the Observer - the Guardian group's Sunday paper.

lostexpectation wrote:

he was well known for frequenting prostitutes vs he was well known for rescuing prostitues come from?

The article appeared on the front of the Irish edition of the Observer newspaper, that bit was a non-quote part of the article, with no source – the term “It is known that” is typically reserved for such.

whiskeyman · 24-10-2005 07:01PM

bookiebasher wrote:

A Fanning Should Resign ...his Position Is Untenable.he Gave The Go Ahead To Run The Story

I totally agree.
How can Fanning seriously continue as editor of the SIndo after this?

The NUJ have made it clear is was a "dark day for Irish Journalism" and have hit out at the "sloppy" journalism and editorial management shown.

lostexpectation · 24-10-2005 07:20PM

sorry got a bit confused there, they still have "lawler died with call girl" as their top Irish story...

funny the Russian newspapers are now reporting what the newspapers over here are reporting

monument · 25-10-2005 12:15AM

No, not quite.

The Observer is GNL’s/GMG’s Sunday newspaper. They are sister titles with common ideology. However, the Guardian is a different newspaper, in a different format, with a different editor etc.

Unrelated to this story, personally I’ve come to – for lack of a better word – expect more sensationally reporting in the Observer that I wouldn’t expect to see (at least, as much of) in the Guardian. For example, on Sunday last there was a two-page news feature bit which centred on the fact a barmaid served a journo and her friend enough to kill them, but hidden away in the article was the fact they were secretly sharing the drink with other consumers, and the barmaid would have never guessed they hadn’t drink it all, never. Hmm… am I going a bit off topic?

lostexpectation · 25-10-2005 05:29AM

i was thinking myself that theres a totally different standard for newspaper printed on a sunday, for many a poor reason... and in vicious circle way this is why semi-credible newspapers have sister sunday papers to use this veil to publish articles and opinions they wouldn't?

this is a prime example

Coverage of Liam Lawlors death

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