Are the media being unprofessional re Air India crash?

[rhomb]

The Air India crash has at one survivor (so far). Heard that the media are bombarding the relatives of this survivor. I find this unprofessional and harassing, especially when the survivor’s brother was on the same flight.

I wish the media will stop trying to get stories from anybody as sensational. It’s not.

Also no need for news specials with presenters asking questions to correspondents and experts who don’t know the answer as the info hasn’t been available etc. Then rephrase it. Again so unprofessional.

Agree. I watched the BBC's reporter who was harassing the family with totally moronic crass questions. At that point the Tele went off.

I’m watching the BBC news now and I was taken aback by how blunt it all is. The corespondent just described how DNA testing is taking place due to ‘the bodies being disfigured’.

I just saw the clip on the news of the journalist speaking to the brother of the survivor. Sadly this guy is also the brother of another passenger who has not survived.
I hate the utterly inane questions - how do you fucking think he’s feeling you absolute moron? What kind of information is he expecting this grieving young man to pass on?
Awful and mawkish. But those words can often be used to describe journalist. Sorry to any journalists who are not like this.

From what I could make out from what the brother here was saying (clearly not wanting to talk to them) there was the survivor brother, but another brother too who is likely deceased.

Its unacceptable intrusion - the poor man clearly was understandably distressed and didn't want to talk, but was too polite a chap to tell them to foxtrot Oscar.

i just said something similar to DH. The hounding is ridiculous and I can’t imagine the psychological impact this whole event will have had on him. He needs a lot of support and I’m not convinced he will get it.

Just said exactly that to my husband.

Its obscene shoving microphones and cameras in the faces of people very clearly in raw shock.

That poor, poor man who walked away will suffer the most terrible survivor’s guilt. I hope he is offered all of the help he needs.

Such a tragedy.

I thought exactly the same and turned the news off - it was disgraceful.

My social media algorithms have gone mad on this (I am of Indian origin) and my feed is full of more and more intrusive reports and pictures of the victims from trashy ‘news outlets’. These days I think the BBC feels they have to compete by stooping just as low. Their focus on the survivor being a ‘national’ is appalling and fuelling racist comments online. Purposely staying offline tomorrow.

Yes, it's probably horrendous but I don't watch it and I kind of wish people wouldn't

I've never been one for watching this kind of thing but I have personal experience. I lost friends in a terror attack. The press didn't find my home, thank god. But they did find my workplace. I spent three days being escorted in/out of a side entrance and then worked at home until it died down. The office were really supportive. I felt terrible for them having journalists lurking outside.

I'm so sorry for everybody involved. If there's any posters struggling with this today because of bad memories, I really feel for you too.

I'm shocked at the level of racism too.Some people are utterly scum.
And why on earth does Sophie Raworth have to be sent to Gatwick airport to report?.All those poor families expecting to meet loved ones there.A compassionate, concise report from the studio by the news anchor is all we need.

The BBC verify team drive me up the wall.
I don't think they needed an hour "special" after the main news at 7pm either. The BBC news coverage does the job.

I saw that, it was sickening, I expect better from BBC. One brother a miracle One brother dead. I would make a complaint if I knew how.
Turn it off when realised who he was interviewing.

I agree that that the male BBC reporter in Leicester was particularly appalling.

The only one to get the 'tone' right was Rita Chakrabarti (presenter of 10 o'clock news). Her experience really showed up the ineptitude of her colleagues imo.

This article from earlier today was written in response to the recent school shooting in Austria, but the comments about journalistic ethics seem very relevant to this thread:

When it comes to reporting on mass killings, some in Europe take a different approach from Americans

Absolutely horrible have these people no humanity?

I feel so bad for the survivors family, they must be reeling from it all. That man is a miracle survivor. I can’t believe how racist the press is. Like why wouldn’t the Indian air investigators do a good job, no, let’s send UK investigators in!

I completely agree with all of you. The only thing I can see to justify the interrogation of the survivor is that he might have seen something that would indicate the cause of the crash. But that's still no excuse for press harassment.

I read the comments on a Daily Mail article once about 6 or 7 years ago - so long ago I don’t remember.
They were so ugly and hateful and racist and horrible I stopped reading Daily Mail altogether.
The Daily Mail probably has an orgasm every time somebody posts another hateful comment on one of their articles.
Filth - you hear that, DM? Because I know you’re trolling Mumsnet right now.
You’re filth.

I saw quite a few racist jokes on posts. Thankfully there were a lot of people setting them straight and telling them how disgraceful their comments were so there are good people.
One make a comment basically saying that even if the survivor was born in Britain then he was Indian because that's where he's from. Someone looked through his profile and pointed out that he'd changed his profile picture a few years ago to have the banner about standing with the lions (English football players being racially abused) with a hashtag about Britain not being racist just pointing out the irony.

I was shocked by this too. There's no need for them to be so graphic, we can all imagine the horror of it only too well. And totally agree with other posters about the treatment of the young brother of the survivor.

Omg so one brother survived but another didn’t. That’s so sad.

I’m not sure which channel it was, but there was an interview with a nice, but underinformed woman from something completely random like the Poole and Christchurch Indian Association, who clearly had no idea that the survivor’s brother had died on the flight, and was rhapsodising about how thrilled the family would be.

(Then she said she’d heard the survivor had jumped out of the plane? Which sounded mad, but DH says there’s speculation about it online?)

"Then she said she’d heard the survivor had jumped out of the plane? Which sounded mad, but DH says there’s speculation about it online?)"

That's what's being said, along with the survivor being a terrorist and that's how he's managed to live (I don't believe that). We don't know how the family feel about the press, because if the terrorist rumour takes hold, it puts them in danger. Getting the truth out, helps stop the conspiracies. Without the doecial coverage, the press would be accused of ignoring a massive disaster and tragedy, because the majority of the location/victims wasn't white.

Disappointed with the BBC, trashy vulture behaviour.

The interview with the survivor's cousin was awful... pressing, pressing pressing for adjectives to describe emotions... there was a slightly better one later with his brother. The journalist was clearly inexperienced, and will hopefully reflect on his embarrassing report, and try to improve his work.