Stop invading the privacy of private citizens involved in accidents. An accident does not make you a public person.
Laziness about the real news over several years and a quite contorted sense of the distinction between public and private has caused Maltese television stations and newspapers to report traffic accidents and other essentially private accidents or fatalities as though they are major news items of public interest.
They are not. It is nobody’s business. Private individuals do not become public persons just through the manner of their death (unless, for obvious reasons, it is murder) or because they have had an accident in their car or other circumstances.
Fortunately we are way past the days when the deaths of heroin addicts used to be described in full graphic detail as to how the body was found, which was completely out of order.
But we are still really backward on the rest, and have taken things even further back in an attempt at racking up internet hits. Malta Today is right now carrying – and yes, please go there and look it, which is just what they want, but you should see what I mean – a photograph of the corpse of a private citizen who fell out of a hotel balcony.
The corpse is minimally covered, but it is still lying in the exact position it landed on the pavement, head beneath a car and blood draining into the gutter.
This would have been a completely unacceptable and distasteful invasion of privacy (yes, even in death we deserve privacy as do relatives) if the dead person were public in life. But the fact that he was a private citizen makes it all the more offensive.
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But then it’s John Pisani of Super One fame.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/author/johnpisani/
Good point, Daphne.
On an unrelated note, have you seen this?
http://maltarightnow.com/news/2014/05/14/trailer-bi-propaganda-laburista-pparkjat-fi-spazju-ta-sitt-parking-bays-barra-l-universita/
It’s a John Pisani article.
L-Orizzont mentality, ruhi.
Thank-you for writing about this. I don’t care to read or listen about traffic accidents. Nor would I want one about my family or me to be reported. It is a completely private matter.
To a degree this should also apply to H&S injuries. The reporting should not focus on the individuals who get hurt or killed at work, but on the employer and whether he complied with regulations.
Okay. I definitely did not need to see that. Is that really what passes for decency at Malta Today?
It is not laziness that made Maltese journalism what it is but lack of guts, and low moral standards.
There can, in reality, be no clear demarcation between public and private persons in crime and accident news reporting.
You mention murder as a clear example of this. If a youth is stabbed in Paceville, is he still a private person for the press?
If a private person’s residence is robbed, gutted by fire or damaged by a bomb explosions, is this still a private matter?
[Daphne – Do you only read Maltese newspapers, David? Where do you see traffic accidents reported in the national press? Yes, if a youth is stabbed in Paceville, of course he remains a private person. The matter shouldn’t be interesting to anyone else, anyway. Yes, of course people remain private persons when their homes are burgled – the mere fact of being burgled by somebody does not strip you of your privacy. Bombs are public interest matters. Fire – it depends on the extent. Countless doors are set on fire in Malta – they are only reported when the home-owner is significant already.]
David, there’s a clear distinction between reporting crime and a personal accident or mishap.
Stabbings (especially those associated with gangs), murders, etc, should be reported by the press because it is in the public interest. The reasons for this include:
1) to alert and safeguard the public from becoming victims of the same crime, particularly if it is localised.
2) to expose the culprit.
Laws are rules by which members of society accept to live by. Committing a crime is breaching that civic covenant that bonds us together as a community. Criminal activity does not only impact on victims directly, but also on the rest of society. If we only cared about crime when it affected us directly, we’d have a social meltdown.
Editors will clearly also consider the news-value aspect when determining whether it is appropriate to go to print with a particular story.
However, reporting traffic accidents does not benefit the public except when caused by poor road safety.
The national press of countries around the size of Malta like Luxembourg would report traffic accidents. In other larger countries the regional press would report these. In Italy serious traffic accidents, as those where persons are killed, are usually also reported in the national press. Recently a football supporter was seriously injured in clashes before a football match. The Italian national press reported on his medical condition and interviewed his mother.
[Daphne – David, please don’t try to teach me lessons about the field in which I work. It is really pointless trying to explain to you the nuances that make for a news story and the difference between forcibly breaching a person’s privacy and interviewing a person with (obviously) her consent. People are killed in traffic accidents in Italy every day. They are NOT reported in the national press. A motorway pile-up or a fire in a tunnel would be reported in the national press, or a bus going over a bridge with many people inside. Traffic accidents are reported in Luxembourg because nothing happens in Luxembourg. There is no comparison. And no, the regional press in Britain, France, Germany, wherever, does not report traffic accidents. They would need a pull-out supplement every day to do that.]
Yes, in Italian national media, RAI in particular, horrific car accidents unfortunately involving fatalities, are reported. Try to contradict this at your expense, cause I’ve seen them myself. And many other people who follow Italian news. These happen especially in weekends, and full name and ages are given.
Contrary to the Maltese news, they are more liberal, and also try to explain the dynamics, and also includes whether people were drunk…
So as long as ‘press’ includes TV broadcasting and internet, you are horribly wrong. As they ARE reported.
[Daphne – Yes, Floater, that’s exactly what I said: dramatic motorway pile-ups and similar (the key term here is ‘news value’). RAI does not report traffic collisions in Catania in which one or two people die.]
So would the picture of the corpse of a well known “public” person be acceptable?
[Daphne – Photographs of corpses are never acceptable in my view, but that is a matter of taste. Some corpses are widely photographed as they lie in state, but that is with the consent of the heirs. Invasive photographs of the corpses of public persons after accidents are subject to press watchdog rulings – the most famous example being that of Diana, Princess of Wales, photographed as she was dying in a car. Private persons are protected at law in all circumstances. Ironically, if this man were alive he would be able to sue.]
I fully agree. I find photographs of corpses morbid, particularly graphic ones.
Net TV has a habit of doing this too sometimes and I find it most distasteful.
If the person is a ‘public’ person the photographs should be discreet and taken from a distance and no trickling blood please.
He’s foreign – that makes him fair game, a notch up from road-kill.
And what about photos included in reports showing people’s faces and car number plates for example. That must amount to breach of privacy as a person or car’s owner maybe doesn’t want to let it be known he/she where there at that time.
This is not like a photo deliberately publicly shared and uploaded on this site for example, but a photo taken without asking permission and even less consent to include in an article.
The article is by John Pisani. He is well known for posting such articles and pictures. He is a big fan of sensationalism apparently and does not feel anything with regards to privacy.
Here’s his ‘biography’ from his website:
Gurnalist mal-gurnali ta’ l-Union Press- l-orizzont u it-Torca. Bdejt il-karriera fil-gurnalizmu fl-1985 ma’ Xandir Malta (illum PBS) fejn domt 11-il sena. Wara mort ma’ Super One News u f’Dicembru 1998 bdejt ma’ l-Union Press.
Nispecjalizza fi stejjer ta’ Kronaka. Delitti, reati kriminali, accidenti ta’ kull tip. Fejn hemm il-Pulizija, suldati, Protezzjoni Civili u ambulanzi – il-probabilta’ hija li jien se nkun hemm.
Fuq dawn il-pagni se ssibu mhux biss stejjer fid-dettal izda wkoll ritratti, hafna minnhom esklussivi.
“Welcome to a new Malta that is fighting discrimination at every turn,” the Prime Minister told the foreigners and gay activists.
“Simple gestures are as effective as legislative tools and the declaration of intent is a step forward. À la carte commitment is not enough… we need to stamp out homophobia and transphobia once and for all.”
—
Mhux wiccu u s***u xorta. Nahseb s***u qed jisthi minn dak il-wicc tost l’ghandu.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/38965/prime_minister_calls_for_end_to_transphobia_and_homophobia
Quite distasteful, particularly as I was not expecting to see it when I opened the Maltatoday webpage. Surely this is covered by some broadcasting law.
Can’t see the attraction. A complete off-putter in my books.Thanks for the invitation but I’m afraid I have to decline.
And, pray, why is it so important to report the gender, age and town of residence of whoever is involved in a car accident, if not to create bias?
Oh, I see, 19 years old, then he must have been driving fast and it must be his fault; or else, what 72 years old – old drivers should be have their driving licence revoked!
It is irrelevant firstly to report the accident, unless it is a major one with loss of life, or threatened loss of life, and secondly to give unnecessary details of the persons involved.
OK, so who will start? PBS, who boost their news item with a picture of a stationary ambulance or the gate of the Police HQ (boring!), should lead by example and be more selective.
On the privacy of private citizens:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27407017
Unfortunately, that is Malta today.