In April this year, Courier Mail reported on the missing persons status of Australian woman Stephanie Scott. The paper went to print on April 9th, the day that police had actually confirmed that she had been murdered.
While the country was in mourning, Courier Mail decided to run with a rather offensive (and factually incorrect) front page, which obviously resulted in widespread backlash.
The cover showed Scott in a wedding dress and a sash that read ‘Bride to Be’ – she was due to be married less than a week after her disappearance – with large, bold text that read ‘BRIDE AND SEEK’.
In addition to being totally and undeniably tacky, the Press Council said that Courier Mail had elevated the “slender possibility” that Scott was still a missing person with the headline, and also said:
“The front page treatment it received, in addition to the lighthearted tenor of the headline, was substantially offensive to many people, and could be expected to have caused distress in particular to those who knew the woman.”
The Press Council has also found that the newspaper breached General Principle six of the codes of practice, which states that publications must, “avoid causing or contributing materially to substantial offence, distress or prejudice, or a substantial risk to health or safety, unless doing so is sufficiently in the public interest”.
via Mumbrella.
Image via SMH.
