Comments for Chris Wheal

Comment on The death knock by Good interviews « Sally's Blog

Good interviews « Sally's Blog — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 23:12:52 +0000

[...] this blog by journalist, Chris Wheal, who found himself as a ‘member of the public’ when his [...]

Comment on Death reporting by Paul

Paul — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:02:53 +0000

When training to be a reporter the rules of death knocks were simply laid down as such:

Introduce yourself clearly from the off so there is no misunderstanding why you are there.

If you are refused, apologise for intruding and leave. Do not bother them again unless they wish to contact you.

However, in reality, I found this was a much too simplistic view for what was standard practice in the industry. It’s not what’s in the public interest but what’s of interest to the public.

I was sorry to read about your loss and wish you well with the PCC.

Comment on Death reporting by Death knocks: public interest or of interest to the public?

Death knocks: public interest or of interest to the public? — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:53:59 +0000

[...] Following the experience, he has proposed a range of recommendations for the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) to use as a structured five-point protocol. You can read about them on his blog here. [...]

Comment on Death reporting by Ricki

Ricki — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:36:10 +0000

Also, how many death knocks have you been asked to do yourself, Chris?

A leaflet is a good idea but could just create another layer of paperwork. And unfortunately, police press officers and family liason officers are obstructive and dissaude families from talking to the press. They need to be educated just as much as the family. Send the leaflet to them.

The pressure from editors to come back with something can be quite strong. But on nine out of ten jobs the families are not around or they want nothing to do with the press.

Comment on The death knock by ?????: ???? Being a journalist on the receiving end of journalism is an eye-opener – ????????

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:21:56 +0000

[...] Chris Wheal ????? ???, ??? 08? 10, 2010 ? 9:07 pm, ????? [...]

Comment on Death reporting by Linda

Linda — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:00:59 +0000

Hi Chris, like others I am in admiration of all the work you have put in on this. I commented on your earlier post and having read your five points here — of how a family may react, my gut feel is that you have missed one possibility and that one possibility for me was wherein the crux of a so-called ‘death knock’ lay — what about those whose initial reaction, is to say they don’t want to speak to the media, but actually they can be persuaded to by the reporter on the doorstep? This was the job I was tasked with as a young reporter and sent people out on as a news editor. I’m in a rush and I’m really sorry if I have missed a major point about this elsewhere in your proposals, but I’d consider this a key point of any way forward, the door is not always slammed or thrown open, sometimes it needs a push and who else but a reporter can do that?
I also echo Martin’s comments above about the pics, it’s a nightmare. I know now that police forces may collect pics too. Personally, having worked as a freelance for high paying mass market publications and broaasheet titles, I flinch a little at the wording asking families if they want to “sell their stories to the highest bidder,” — I think in this element you need to explain that some publications may pay but that it not a ‘given’ Your wording at the moment raises issues/questions about when is a death ‘newsworthy’/interesting for different types of publications who will or won’t pay and that is a whole other can of worms. What if someone says yes ‘sell my story’ and then nobody wants it for a fee? It happens. The death in my own family would not have ‘made’ these days, I’m sure. In asking the families about selling to a “highest bidder”, to me, it sounds like a value judgment. I have worked on stories where people have wanted to sell their story and the money gained has gone to a relevant charity. Not sure if any of this is any help and I will watch your progress with interest. Thank you for doing this.

Comment on Death reporting by Jennie Kermode

Jennie Kermode — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 11:22:31 +0000

I wish it were always the case that the media is supportive. Unfortunately, we at Trans Media Watch have dealt with cases in which bereaved families have felt parts of the press have objectified and even ridiculed their deceased loved ones because they were transgender and sensationalising this element of the story sold papers. We are happy to advise families facing situations like this but, of course, most families don’t conceive of being in such a situation, so have no awareness of where they might seek help.

When we do provide support, we generally recommend issuing a press release which acknowledges that the media will be interested in this aspect of the story (as they might be in, say, a celebrity relative or a past criminal record) and encourages them to present it in a considerate way. By providing a brief summary of their feelings about the deceased, relatives can avoid having words put into their mouths by journalists making assumptions about their feelings. It’s also helpful to provide context that presents the deceased as a rounded human being. In the recent Andrea Waddell case, we encouraged the media to talk about Andrea’s academic accomplishments and charity work and her relationship with her family, not just the fact that she was transgender and did sex work.

Comment on Death reporting by Martin Emmerson

Martin Emmerson — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 09:34:28 +0000

I have to applaud your efforts. Something needs to be done, but the leaflet seems to be a rather long one. I wonder how many families who are grieving can bring themselves to read through the entire thing?

Until we have a different option I think the police are the best people to deal with something like this – even though lots of journos don’t trust police press officers. They are in the best place to release a photograph and quotes from a family.

From my experience working at a press agency a few years ago, they would not stop until they had a picture of the people who were at the centre of the story.

Although I was a journalist I would spend the majority of my time on big death knocks traipsing around estates trying to find pictures of the deceased because it was the pictures that paid the big money in the national papers and not the words.

And the writers had the skills to talk their way into people’s homes that the photographers generally seemed to be lacking.

“The family wish to be left alone” was often taken as our starting point to prove this wrong and because of competition from other news organisations, we would always go and knock on the door anyway for fear the family would talk to someone else.

They often do speak and that is part of the problem. While there is a chance someone will get an interview and that collect pic, there will always be a knock at the door.

I would take “no” for an answer though and don’t feel I was the callous foot-in-the-door type that some were. I found that in a lot of cases families were pleased to speak and share their emotions and thoughts and there were a number of times when I got back in the car and had a good cry myself.

It is the worst side of journalism and thankfully I don’t have to do this sort of thing any more. As a parent I often wonder what it would be like if I found myself at the centre of a horrible story or something dreadful happened to my family.

I think I would be like anyone else. Just as likely to punch the person at the door as I would be to invite them in and open the family album.

Comment on Death reporting by Rich Simcox

Rich Simcox — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 09:13:10 +0000

@Paul Durrant – I know Chris a little bit and I know one thing he will do is talk to lots of people. Email him and offer to help, if you haven’t already.

Comment on The death knock by PCC: ‘Simply wrong’ to say PCC does not provide death-knocks guidance | The Wire | Press Gazette

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 09:07:23 +0000

[...] found that despite making it clear that he was the official family spokesman, some journalists persisted in trying to contact the family directly despite being asked not to, and that one agency even phoned up the family direct and offered them money for the [...]