Elton John knows it. And we all know it too: that newspaper editors find “sorry” the hardest word to say...
Let’s take a recent case. On Friday 9 December, the Daily Mail published an article suggesting that people had “died in agony” on 7 July 2007 as a result of health and safety procedures. The article claimed: “Some victims of the 7/7 London bombings were left to die in agony because health and safety protocols meant firemen were unable to go into the train tunnels without official confirmation.”
A spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade got in touch saying: “We’re all used to the Daily Mail doing ‘health and safety gone mad’ stories, but this sort of allegation is as serious as they come and it shouldn’t be made lightly.”
The journalist was contacted and told he had simply got it wrong and that his comments were deeply insensitive. It was pointed out to the paper that during the inquest into the bombings, Coroner Lady Justice Hallett completely confounded the myth that health and safety had somehow contributed to the death or suffering of any victim of the 7/7 bombings.
The London Fire Brigade demanded a correction and, while the Daily Mail dodged giving a direct apology, on Monday 12 December, it did put the record straight – on page 2
The paper said: “An article in Friday’s paper repeated a claim previously published in several newspapers that victims of the 7/7 London bombings had been left to die because health and safety protocols meant firemen were initially unable to enter the tunnels. While there was a delay, we are happy to clarify that the inquest found no evidence that any casualty had suffered or died as a result.”
Now, I’m pretty sure this case alone won’t make evidence in the ongoing Leveson Inquiry, however it shows the utter contempt and blatant disregard not only to facts (or lack of) in the article, but also to those concerned.
To add insult to injury, on its correction page the Daily Mail decry: “Huge efforts are made to ensure our journalism meets the highest possible standards of accuracy but it is inevitable that mistakes do occur.”
Hmm. Is it right that papers like the Daily Mail can devote whole pages to inaccurate and spun articles, only to print corrections that are buried on a page hardly anyone reads? Of course not.
People might find the human and professional frailties of newspaper journalists and editors much easier to stomach if they treated their readers better.
Take it away, Elton...
Shaun.
1 comments:
None of this article surprises, I have hardly lifted a newspaper and have certainly not bought one since serving in the Balkans in 2000, after reading the Suns lies about what we were doing!
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