Article about woman’s ‘horrible’ death ‘inaccurate’, Press Council finds
The Press Council has censured Lismore publication, The Northern Star, for an article graphically describing the death of a Queensland woman.
Published on 18 August 2016, the article titled ‘The mysterious and ‘horrible’ death of Sabrina Bremer’, was updated several times after its initial publication, with details of how the woman was found, as well as her name, age and residential area.
A complaint was made by the victim’s cousin, who said the reporting caused the family serious distress, noting the police said the details of the article were actually incorrect.
She said the article did not treat the deceased with dignity or respect, and the victim’s family should have been considered before publishing.
The Northern Star said the article had been written by a reporter from a related publication, before it was republished on the Northern Star’s website without editorial checking.
The publisher said the article was based on interviews with two nearby residents and acknowledged the article should have quoted them, rather than stating their views as fact.
The Northern Star conceded the police refuted the residents’ claims at a press conference later and said while the initial article had been updated, ‘a technical error’ had meant the reposting on The Northern Star was not updated.
An apology was made to the complainant for the error, and the Northern Star noted it had removed the residents’ claims from its website and counselled the reporter following the complaint.
The Press Council said reporting unverified residents’ claims, which were lately proven false, meant the publication had not taken reasonable steps to ensure the article was accurate and not misleading.
It also said the reporting of the death in great detail had failed to avoid causing substantial distress, particularly to the family, and the public interest did not justify such detail.
The Council said the publication had failed to take reasonable steps to correct the accuracy with promptness, even though the material was deleted in the end and upheld the complaint.
