My initial reaction was one of disgust- not because of what was written (the quotation was extremely beautiful and emotive) but rather because the journalist Angela Pownall had gone onto the father's page and taken his out pouring of grief and published it in the newspaper. However with more reflection I began to consider if this protocol is in fact as abhorrent as I had initially found it or simply a new (and possibly more considerate) was of humanising a story without invading a family's privacy.
The young boy who passed away has been in the public arena for a couple of years at the very least because his father and 19 mountain climbers raised $920,000 for PMH, all of which has been put towards research into children's cancer. The boy's father has become a vocal advocate for raising money for research into these diseases and only last night he appeared on Channel 7 news announcing that he and his colleagues would raise another $20 million for research. I find this exceptionally commendable and I am proud of a West Australian who is willing to work so hard to help others. The work that this man is doing however has lead to the reality that the death of his son is newsworthy. A lot of West Australian readers would be familiar with the family and would want to hear of the sad news and send their condolences, however I digress as I don't want to argue the newsworthiness of this boy's death, but rather look at the practises of this particular journalist.
I have lamented the infiltration of Facebook into our everyday lives before and this story immediately sent me into a 'no not again' panic, but in retrospect this piece of writing is not your typical 'scoping Facebook for juicy tidbits about a deceased person' that has become relatively acceptable in journalism of late. I find pictures lifted from Facebook pages about people who have died tragically a little bit morbid, but I cannot deny the fact that people who are interested could just as easily jump on the computer themselves and look the information up. But what does strike me in this case is the fact that the journalist's use of Facebook may have actually been more considerate than standard practise.
In my first year of journalism at ECU I found myself in a class considering ethics. A question about death-knocks was asked and I was the only female in the class who said that would be comfortable participating in a death-knock- not because I would enjoy it but because I realise that they are part of the practise of journalism. I was not a popular member of that class. The other girls in the class couldn't understand how I could be so disrespectful and (and I quote) "cold-hearted" as to invade a family's privacy in their time of grief. I don't disagree with any of the opinions the girls raised- it is disrespectful and cold-hearted but it's also a part of journalism. That's why we study ethics to make us more equipped to deal with the unpleasant parts of the work. So with this in mind it is possible that Ms Pownall has done the family a service by taking information that is freely available on the Facebook page of the father, who is obviously aware that people other than just his family are reading it, and using that information to humanise the story. Perhaps she has found away to be less disrespectful and cold-hearted but still manages to create an engaging and emotional story. The fact that the boy's father appeared on the news last night helps me rectify this notion as he clearly has no problem with media attention because ultimately the more coverage he and his family receives, the more money his campaign will hopefully receive.
People die, and other people who aren't dead are always going to be interested in how they died, who is now sad that they died and how they can avoid dying themselves so it is no wonder that the morbid curiosity that most people have with death is played out in newspapers. I don't necessarily have a problem with this because death is a part of life and people shouldn't shy away from this. You will one day know someone who will die. It's very sad but also true. My problem does not lie in addressing death in the news- but perhaps the ethically issues around how death is covered and the way some journalists will scope out a story. I don't this Ms Pownall has been unethical here. In fact she has helped me see the use of Facebook as a tool of the media in a considerably different light and I am sure she has done the right thing by this family. She has managed to cover an exceptionally tragic event in a compassionate and considered manner, but has also highlighted the extremely important work his father is undertaking to help other family's who are suffering.
I wish to add my sincere condolences to The Parish family and my well wishes for their work in the future. Mr Parish in particular, please continue your admirable work- people are taking notice.
