Fairfax Media apologises for live streaming funeral of Sydney siege victim Katrina Dawson
Fairfax Media has apologised for live streaming the funeral of Sydney siege victim Katrina Dawson, despite a family request to broadcasters and publishers not to do so.
Mumbrella understands there were a number of rules for press coverage of the funeral including not broadcasting today’s service. The rules included no live broadcast of the service, not approaching attendees and no images of any children to be published in any use of the footage.
A Fairfax spokesperson has apologised for the mistake and said they were not aware of the family’s request.
“It seems that Katrina Dawson’s family representative advised broadcasters this morning that they were not to live stream, but did not inform us,” said the spokesman.
“It was not stipulated in the original advice on the service arrangements. We removed the live stream as soon as we became aware the family did not want any live streaming of the service. We are sorry for any upset this may have caused.”
The websites of both the SMH and The Age both promoted the live stream of the funeral prominently today.
Mumbrella understands that the Dawson family email on media restrictions was not sent to all media.
Dawson was one of two victims killed last week when gunman Man Haron Monis took 17 people inside the Lindt Cafe in Sydney’s Martin Place. The hostage situation ended in the early hours of last Tuesday morning when police entered after shots were heard. Lindt cafe manager Tori Johnson was also killed in the siege.
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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Vultures.
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Imagine the outcry if it had been News Corp.
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Fairfax has so lost sight of reality and are so totally obsessed with the Abbott government that they’ve utterly lost all sense of reason, impartiality and ethics. See their abysmal circ figures.
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Disgusting.
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I was thinking the same thing Ted!
it’s not a good look at all.
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Absolutely disgusting.
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What part of this did posters above not understand?
“Mumbrella understands that the Dawson family email on media restrictions was not sent to all media.”
It seems that it just may be a simple miscommunication issue. Simple as that.
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Very strange that the Fairfax conglomerate didn’t know, one would have believed that some small independent out back operation might not have known. It was on radio & TV. Disgusting behaviour. No respect for mourning families
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So clearly the anti-Fairfax numpties are out in force.
Unless anyone has evidence that Fairfax are lying about their claim that they weren’t informed, perhaps people should just take them at their word? The fact that they removed the stream when they were informed would seem to back up their claim, yes?
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I dp not class myself as a one of your so called “Numpties . Just a disgusted Fairfax reader.
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Why should it matter whether or not Fairfax were informed? The issue is whether it’s right and proper to film a private person’s funeral without actively seeking out permission from the person’s family.
Fairfax journalists didn’t need to wait to be informed – they should have asked before filming. They’re not (quite) the gutter press. They should uphold some standards of ethics.
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Chris,
would you not agree that for a media organisation as large and experienced as Fairfax, that it’s unusual that nobody received or heard of the family’s request?
so if they’re not lying they’re incompetent. take your pick
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Hi Nigel,
The family gave permission to Nine to film on behalf of the media with the agreement that the footage could be shared with all the media. The issue here appears to be not that Fairfax filmed without permission (they didn’t) but that they weren’t told and didn’t check about permission to post the vision as a live stream.
Cheers
Nic – Mumbrella
If nothing else this incident will perhaps make people wonder about why the public have any right to vision or details of private funerals. Mrs Dawson was not a public figure, and her family should not feel under pressure to share their grief with strangers in order to generate ‘grief porn’ masquerading as news.
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It would appear likely that the inexperience of people managing fairfax sites is the issue. A person with any editorial experience would have been alert to the potential problem. But fairfax has never had experienced editors on its web sites and now has very few anywhere.
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Even if they didn’t know, and even if they were told they could by the family, they shouldn’t have done it anyway. Like others have said, she is not a public figure and it is not in any way news.
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The media do film and photograph a lot of funerals for ongoing stories and do so with dignity. It seems that whilst pool footage was negotiated for TV, it was not extended to online coverage for Fairfax. Such is the dilemma – how to cover all bases in this online world. Fairfax withdrew and apologised immediately.
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