Steven Baxter

Patrolling the murkier waters of the mainstream media

Gary Speed and press intrusion in the post-phone hacking era

It's no different from any other "death knock", wizened hacks tell me. Well, I agree.

By Steven Baxter Published 28 November 2011 12:16

There they are, illustrating the stories about Gary Speed's death. Photos of his house, after he died -- possibly with grieving relatives still inside, looking out at the lenses trained on their windows. Some are taken through trees, others from the front gate. It's not a particularly lovely thing to see.

This is no different from any other "death knock", wizened hacks will tell me with a shake of their jowls.

Well, I agree. And that's because during my brief and unsuccessful journalism career, I never agreed with the idea of sending some fresh-faced young hack down to try and negotiate a frontpage splash with a grief-stricken family, all the time telling ourselves that it might be doing some good. It might help the family, we lied to ourselves. It might be therapeutic, or cathartic, we pretended.

Yes, perhaps there are some families whose moment of awfulness has been eased somehow by chatting to a reporter over a cup of tea and handing over treasured photos of the people they've just lost.

But it's never been about that: that's always been the fig leaf. It's simply a means to flog some newspapers by exploiting vulnerable people's misery. Deep down, we know that, and we always did know it.

"Please leave the family alone," says a commenter under the Daily Mail's story about the former Leeds star and Wales football manager, who died at the weekend. "That photo of the cameras camped outside his house chills me. His poor family will be mobbed everywhere they go now. For once do the decent thing and leave well alone."

It's probably a vain hope, but perhaps this kind of sentiment is going to surface more and more in a post-phone hacking world, where we're reassessing our relationship with the printed press and other media, and asking whether such a level of intrusion is really justified. As I wrote the other day, we as punters are in part responsible, by buying the filth in the first place or contributing to a culture in which it's seen as somehow justified.

But there's a sense in which the intrusions into the private lives of the families of Milly Dowler, terrorist atrocity victims and the parents of Madeleine McCann, among many others, marked a time when we couldn't ignore how our news arrived anymore. We'd happily eaten the sausages without wondering what had happened in the factory before they'd arrived on our plate -- but now we were being shown the rather unsavoury truth.

You can try to make a case for some celebrities giving away a sliver of privacy when they choose to live in the public eye, by taking up a career as a marketable film star and so on. But there are other people, ordinary people like you and me, whose lives have been wrecked through no choice of their own, because they happened to be victims of an unimaginably awful event or were related to someone famous who did. What choice have they had? Why must they be pursued in the same way?

We can hope that Gary Speed's family are left alone to deal with this terrible tragedy. But I fear they won't be.

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Tags: Football

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12 comments

Tue, 2011-11-29 11:58 — Robert Taggart

'We' are to blame... are 'we' not ?...
curiosity, curiosity, curiosity !
How come someone who appeared to 'have it all' and to be so 'steady as he goes' (saturday - lunchtime - television football punditry) could choose to end it all only hours later ? Depression ? - do not understand.

Thu, 2011-12-01 15:56 — elbenjamino (not verified)

Can I welcome (and thank him for) Dom's comment (above)? I wonder if many people have caught the truth about depression so well as his "The past means nothing. It is the future that brings the darkness." He may feel 'guilty of speculation' but he's given some grounded wisdom to the speculation of others. Let's all back off now ...

Tue, 2011-11-29 18:50 — soitgoes

As a victim - ordinary with no public profile, I would emphasise that this casual carelessness and callousness is not restricted to the tabloids.

After a terrible tragedy, local journalists knocked on our door, but we were able to send them away with police support. However, there was the insidious tactic deployed in which they contacted friends who then contacted us with the message: "We will write the story in any case, so it would be better for you that we have your input." In the maelstrom of the emotions surrounding an immediate tragedy, even though you know there is no 'dirt' to be slung, you submit through fear - fear of antagonising the media. It was a wholly reputable journalist and newspaper who deployed this tactic. Friends and acquaintances were very surprised that we 'wanted' to give an interview. We did not; we hated the experience and cannot bear seeing or reading the article as sympathetic as it was. We felt and feel strongly that we were blackmailed and extorted into doing this. People often question why 'ordinary victims' get involved with the media: this is why. We are blackmailed and extorted into doing so when we are at our most vulnerable.
In a different situation, a casual acquaintance who happened to be a very reputable journalist wrote up a story about my experiences as a 'case study example.' People who knew me immediately 'recognised' my case as the example given. There was no interview although the writing gave the impression that there was; there was no forewarning given to me of publication, let alone permission. While the story was again sympathetic, it was actually a betrayal and a gross intrusion. It was also a confection: people were perplexed that I would say the sorts of things I supposedly said. Of course the quotes were not really quotes: they were just projections from the journalist's imagination of what I might have said had I been interviewed.
In both cases, you choose not to object out of fear of invoking revenge.
It is simply blackmail and extortion undertaken to sell papers. It is patently absurd to think talking to a journalist 'helps'

Mon, 2011-11-28 14:55 — swatantra

The Press never learn.
The moment it as announced , te Press leapt on it.And they wouldn't let it go. All day throughout the day. I tuned to CNN and it was reported on there as well. We are talking about the Manager of a small national side. His death and the circumstances were indeed tragic but the story and family should have had some breathing space.
Its a sick Society. Its a broken Society.
It was good to escape to the Countryfile and Coast and Strictly and X Factor for some relief.
Amelia Lily is amazing. She is the new Britney Spears.

Mon, 2011-11-28 15:42 — Ian5

we punters? Came here to escape the Speed event. the BBC covered it, as both News and Sport As sure as eggs is eggs this will have a dark element that time will reveal.

He was a 42 y.o. man, who committed suicide or died during a sexual practice.

That a man in his position could have been so depressed to end it all should be big news. Depression is a killer that we ignore all to often. The knock on effects on family are also devastating.

This disease if that is what it is should be big news. At least the media on this occasion seem to be avoiding speculation. Lets wait for coroners report...

Mon, 2011-11-28 17:15 — Steiner (not verified)

"At least the media on this occasion seem to be avoiding speculation."

Unlike you. Why should you expect any better if you can't prevent yourself venting your speculations publicly either.

"should be big news."
Nobody is saying it shouldn't, it is the desperate behaviour of the press to get a picture, or a quote, that is depressing.

There should be a line of behaviour that is not crossed. Not a free for all, because something is regarded as "big news".

Tue, 2011-11-29 22:40 — Dom (not verified)

Stop fuelling speculation; leave this man's family to celebrate his life. Don't fuel the speculation of his death. I have combated depression for over a year now. When depression and anxiety kicked in for me I didn't care what I had done that day. What you have done/achieved/encountered in the 30 years prior to the moment you are overwhelmed by the darkness is irrelevant. The past means nothing. It is the future that brings the darkness.
I don't know if this was the case, I am now guilty of speculation.
I plea to the author of this article and the editor of this publication to desist. By reference to speculation you are serving only to fuel it. Leave the public and this man's family to celebrate his life. Don't fuel the speculation of his death.

Tue, 2011-11-29 22:40 — salmacis2

Here in the US the local TV news stations have assumed the tabloids' mantle - anything that might be remotely attractive to the prurient will find reporters and camera vans parked outside and banging some unfortunate's door.

Legislating press restraint would be a fine start, but reshaping our desires away from the intrusive or salacious would be an integral second.

Mon, 2011-11-28 17:47 — Ian5

Not speculating, police stated that he hung himself....not much to speculate on really...Depression should be big news. Robert Enke, Alexander McQueen, plus thousands with no names.