Parents push for “Molly’s Law” to protect privacy
The parents of Molly Lord are campaigning for a law to make it illegal for media to intrude on grieving families, and proceeding with legal action.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
The parents of Molly Lord, who died tragically in a quad bike accident earlier this month, are campaigning for a law to make it illegal for media to intrude on grieving families.
Peter Lord and Linda Goldspink-Lord will initiate legal action against Seven, WIN and The Illawarra Mercury after they published intrusive footage and photographs of the 13-year old’s death on the family property near Wollongong.
They will also proceed with official complaints to media regulators the Australian Communication and Media Authority and the Press Council. Last year ACMA stepped up its guidelines on invasion of privacy, and the complaint is likely to test the new rules.
Writing in The Australian, Peter Lord says:
My wife is in shock that what she believed to be a private moment has been shown for the world to see. Even the emergency service workers at the scene had the decency to turn and walk away from Linda so that she could share her last precious moments with Molly in private.
Unfortunately the photographers and camera crews didn’t offer her the same courtesy. The same applies to the reporters who continued to come on to our property during the day, harassing family and friends for description of the events, despite repeatedly being asked to leave, and the journalist who rang me overseas “looking for a comment”!
On their Facebook page, Seven said of the thousand+ complaints it had received:
We have listened to your feedback. We have learned from our error and we are not deleting comments on this page, unless they breach our terms of service. If you wish to voice further concerns, please contact us via this page: http://au.news.yahoo.com/content-upload/
Many of you have asked us if we have contacted Ms Goldspink-Lord personally to address her concerns. We have asked New South Wales police and her lawyer to pass on a message that we are keen to talk to her if she wishes. We extend our sympathies to Ms Goldspink-Lord and her family.
The Justice for Linda Facebook page now has over 6,300 “likes” in just over a week.
Source: The Australian
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- Tagged with Seven News, WIN News
11 Responses
Exactly right Kats. Having known families on the receiving end of this despicable behaviour, a reform is long overdue.
And if Seven is blameless… funny how they took the video down (do you have a “rolling eyes” emote on this site David?)
In any case, it is my understanding that Seven copped it more for removing the criticisms against them than the original video?
Personally I hope the Lord family involved get a rather large settlement from all three “media” sources…
Grief is not news.The point is,news crews (Seven news or other news crews) should not have been there at all,a helicopter should not have been flying above,at any time.It might well be public air space,but ethically and morally wrong.This family’s privacy should have been respected.When does a private citizens right to privacy come into play,or doesn’t that matter if it’s deemed newsworthy?This was about turning a tragedy into a few minutes of headline grabbing news without any regard for the Lord family.
There are times when news need to be reported with sensitivity and consideration and without intruding into someone’s private moments.The Lord family very obviously did not want any news crews there.So why be there at this time?
Right. I have watched the full segment on Media Watch.
My judgment on Channel Seven stands: they were unfairly attacked. The Illawarra Mercury copped less venom than Seven, and as Holmes pointed out, the local WIN News had “so far” copped none of the social-media kerfuffle.
I saw the footage Media Watch showed what was complained about and have to say, it appeared to be shot from a respectful distance.
To go into detail about how the family found out and all the little timings surrounding that, would just raise more questions than answers, and make it even more difficult to explain, but as far as I am concerned, it all boils down to this: you can’t make split-second decisions and be perfect. This has gone way out of control, and we all need to take a big long deep breath, and ease up and think twice before dragging it through the courts and begging lawmakers to wrap the news media in more bundles of red tape — as Holmes conceded: the law about respecting privacy will never be made any more unambiguous. As such, spending heaps of money on legal action may as well go to waste.
Sorry, but that is my opinion, and I will not lie.
Ok……looking at that Media Watch segment now.
One point: the massive amounts of venom are directed at Channel Seven even thought they really didn’t show the mother hugging the daughter!!! It was another network altogether, but still, they give Channel 7 both barrels!!!
(I shall continue to watch the segment and get back to you with a further judgment about this craziness)
@David @Unclepete.Definitely agree.
Huh Moanique?
I suggest you talk to a copper about this. Most of them I have been friends with have found the media a hindrance in cases, not a help. Long gone, unfortunately, are the days of the ethical and noble reporter.
@David, I fully concur. Anyone who is unsure of the issues here really does need to watch tonight’s Media Watch.
Let’s not forget the good work that News programmes from all networks do in helping to solve murders, abductions, disappearances etc. In my opinion, Seven News have done nothing wrong in this instance.
After hearing about the megastorm of fuss over this particular issue, I reviewed the news item in question on the 4.30 News and on the 6pm bulletin on July 11, and quite frankly, I struggle to see what all this is about.
The incident is news because of the issue of quadbike safety, no?
As for the intrusiveness and the “pictures of dead bodies” and the alleged footage of the mother crouching over the daughter’s dead body, I fail to see how that correlates with my recorded version, which has distant shots of lots of police, a quadbike being taken away by police/examined by forensics, and a white sheet on the ground. You couldn’t recognise the victim or the family, they were sillhouetes. And they want to take legal action because a helicopter was in public airspace more than 1000ft AGL?
If you saw Media Watch tonight you would understand that there were indeed intrusive shots especially on WIN, which may not match what you watched on Seven. You are entitled to an opinion but it is clear the bulk of readers here, including me, vehemently reject that such intrusion at a deeply personal time was necessary in order to relate the news about quadbike safety.
Way past due 🙁
Ive said this before in regards to this tragedy,shameful behaviour,absolutely shameful behaviour on the part of Seven news.This family deserved their privacy and anyone else that may ever be put into that unfortunate situation.There was a line and it was crossed.I wish the Lord family all the best in their legal action.