Publish and be damned

I HAVE been called "sick", and compared with the pig-like caricature of journalists in TV's Spitting Image.

I've been reported to industry watchdogs, the Press Complaints Commission, and accused of lacking compassion.

I have been told I represent the worst of the paparazzi and gutter press.

And if my Newsquest paymasters won't sack me, then I should do the decent thing and resign. Now.

The reason? Those photographs in Friday's edition of The Press.

So for the record, let me give you an insight into the dilemma facing newspaper and broadcast editors the length and breadth of the country when images as sensitive, and shocking, as these come across our desks.

Do we publish and, in some quarters, risk being damned? Or do we simply file the images away in the "not used" drawer?

How do we balance the public's right to know against the likelihood some readers will be outraged, if not deeply offended? And what about the family of the young man our cameras captured plunging 50ft from the window of a hotel bedroom? Have we a duty to spare them further anguish?

In truth, there is no easy answer.

For that reason, I grappled with the rights and wrongs before taking the decision to go-ahead.

We are a newspaper. We report all aspects of what goes on in our city and the surrounding areas. The good and the bad. Life as it is, warts and all.

But in this case, there were several other important factors which played a part in the way we chose to cover the incident.

If we are a paper of record, how could we suppress a story which unfolded on a main artery into the centre of York for more than two hours? It was witnessed by scores of onlookers. Shop and office workers. Pedestrians. Tourists. As fast as the police moved them on, others were there to take their place.

All of these people had watched police negotiators patiently try to cajole the man down from the fourth-storey window. They saw his face. And they saw him fall.

Given this, we could have put forward a convincing argument for publication on the grounds that this was a very public spectacle.

But one crucially important thing held sway. He survived.

Had he not, my decision about what we used and how we presented it would have been vastly different. I know that won't placate our critics, but it is the truth.

Despite some complaints to the contrary (complaints I fully understand given the emotive nature of the story and graphic detail of our photographs), I genuinely believe we treated it in a sensitive manner.

Our page one headline read Godno. It reflected the shock and disbelief of many of those who saw the young man fall, and the fact some were openly praying for his safety as they stood on the pavement only yards away.

A small minority laughed. Some even yelled aloud for him to jump. They were not afforded a mention.

We chose also to use only an image of our front cover on our website, despite the fact we had dozens of other images which went unseen.

A full CD of these will shortly be handed over to the police and used to help them piece together the harrowing events of last Thursday afternoon.

No further pictures of the actual fall have been used in The Press since. This was a policy decision taken long before the first of the 50 or so complaints received by the newspaper began to come in.

A full sequence did appear in the following day's Sun and were attributed to a "stunned passer-by", which reinforces the argument that the whole scenario was played out very much in the public gaze. The Sun opted to mask out the young man's face. So why didn't we? It is my view that there is a world of difference between revealing his identity to readers of the country's biggest-selling national newspaper than in a regional daily circulating in the area where so many people had seen it for themselves. Another regional title, The Northern Echo, opted for the same approach as us.

On the day of our story, The Metro ran a front page picture of a stabbing victim lying dead in the street.

I remember the controversy over images of 9/11 victims falling to their deaths from the Twin Towers. I vividly recall the gruesome pictures of Saddam Hussein's dead sons when they dominated page one of so many nationals, and the furore that followed.

We never use pictures of bodies or severely injured people. That is our policy.

In a local radio interview on Friday I was asked whether, with the benefit of hindsight, I would take the same decision again.

During my career, I have learned that hindsight is two things: 100 per cent accurate, and 100 per cent useless.

Instead, I would prefer to say that I will base any future judgements on the circumstances involved.

That won't appease those who are looking for a cast-iron guarantee. But I won't make promises I cannot keep.

I value the role of a free press and run my newspaper in line with the Code of Conduct agreed by editors and the Press Complaints Commission. I accept that with a free press comes a duty of responsibility.

In facing up to that responsibility, difficult decisions sometimes have to be made. This was unquestionably one of the toughest.

What readers thought

I WAS shocked and appalled by the photographs of the man plummeting from a hotel bedroom window (Friday, May 26).

It was not in the public interest to publish these but was tasteless and insensitive. I imagine that any relatives and friends of the man would be quite distressed on seeing these photographs, not to mention the young man himself who clearly needs help and support rather than being the subject of sensationalist journalism.

Sue Leadley, Kilburn Road, York.

I WAS in York city centre on Thursday, and witnessed the poor man who finally jumped out of the Ramada Hotel window, after trying to be talked out of it by an officer.

Why were so many emergency vehicles at the scene?

I counted four fire engines, 10 police vans, and at least two ambulances. Why were four fire engines needed at the scene?

This is a fine example of how council tax is wasted in York.

No wonder we can't get a police car to come out to a reported burglary, or domestic problems, as 10 police vans and police are stood around for two hours doing nothing.

This is just one example, as there are many others, of overreaction to an incident and waste of emergency services' time and money.

M Barker, Wycliffe Avenue, York.

WE have regularly bought your paper for over 30 years but today we are disgusted and shocked to see your front page featuring the tragic death fall of a young man from a window at the Ramada Encore Hotel.

We fail to understand your justification for the printing of this photograph and consider it to be of a sensation-grabbing motive. Surely no one needs to see this snapshot of the last moments of a young man's life. Did his family agree to your publication?

Brian and Carol Bell, Merchant Way, Copmanthorpe, York.

HOW absolutely terrible of The Press to have run the photograph of the man who jumped from the hotel window. It was in terrible taste and would have, I feel, upset many people. Did we really need to see that awful incident in such graphic detail? I know the press has only 36,000 circulation in a city with 90,000 households but is that form of tabloid journalism necessary to sell a few hundred more copies? You should be ashamed of yourselves.

C Daniels, Filey Terrace, York.

FOLLOWING the recent incident when one man threatened and then tragically jumped from the Ramada Hotel, why did half of the York Constabulary have to park up in North Street and then mill around talking to each other?

Presumably there was no crime happening in the city during that time. Why was it necessary for this huge presence?

We came into town at 4.30pm that day by car and had no idea there was anything wrong until we reached the end of George Hudson Street and had to turn around along with at least 15 other cars. Why was no one on traffic duty? There were plenty of police there, surely someone should have taken control and been at the lights stopping cars and diverting them.

First York took more control as buses had also been allowed down and they can't be turned round very easily, and at least their staff tried to control things. The police allowed a huge crowd to build up with some idiots shouting to the man. Was this wise? Surely some of the officers in the many vans could have got out and attempted some form of crowd control?

Mrs J Lomax, York.

I WISH to complain about the horrifying pictures in Friday's (May 26) edition of The Press, showing a young man falling from a hotel window. How can The Press stoop so low as to print pictures such as these?

Has it occurred to you that for whatever reason this young man decided to act the way he did, he may have been suffering from some kind of mental torture and was probably very distraught. Do you have no thoughts of compassion for the reason behind this action? How do you think anyone close to the young man would have felt upon seeing these dreadful scenes? Had he been a close friend or relation of mine I would have been deeply shocked.

Only a few weeks ago you printed a picture of a hearse removing a body from a fatal road accident, which, at the time, I and others thought were sick. If this kind of sensationalism is just a way of extending your readership, then you are going about it in the wrong way.

Had it not been for the fact we have The Press delivered, I wouldn't have bought it. Shame on you.

Linda Hill, Main Street, Copmanthorpe, York.

I WOULD like to express my absolute disgust at The Press for the way that the events of last Thursday, the suicide attempt on Micklegate, was reported in the following day's paper. How can you justify enclosing such detailed step-by-step pictures of this young man's attempt at taking his own life as if it were a film or fictional drama.

If this man had actually died as a result of his actions would you have still printed these pictures? I assume that you perhaps would have restrained from doing so. Personally I feel it is most inappropriate, whether he lived or died, because at the point of these photographs being taken this man, in his own mind, was plunging to his death.

As a local paper I feel that you have sunk to the lowest levels possible for a story and are now in the gutter with many other national papers and journalists who have deservedly gained a bad reputation.

I am not alone in my feelings, I have spoken to many people who have all expressed their horror at the paper and the graphic way that this story was reported. I for one will not be reading this paper again in the future.

Helen Walton.

I am disgusted that you chose to publish the photographs of the young man who decided to take his life. This is the lowest of the low in journalism and has taken paparazzi photography to new depths. No wonder you have been characterised as pigs in long-running satires such as the now-defunct Spitting Image et al. I thoroughly hope you consider publishing an apology to all your readership who are very much capable I'm sure of envisaging a man's suicide without you publicly printing the photographs of his last morbid task.

Anon.

I was rather disgusted at your coverage of attempted suicide jump from the Ramada Hotel last thursday. I thought the printing of the young man's face was disgusting, even The Sun newspaper had the tact to obscure his face. You stated that he looked mid-twenties when in fact he is only 18 years old. Do you think young people like this need publicity and, although thankfully he survived the fall, is that the last photo his loved ones need to see? I can only hope you apologise to his family and to him and in future use your common sense when dealing with your front page news photos.

F Wilcock.

I understand that finding stories must be rather difficult for a paper in York, however, that does not excuse the appalling and sickening two-page spread of yesterday's tragic suicide attempt. I do not expect the Press to forego reporting such a story, but I would expect it to be reported in a more sensitive manner. The decision to publish (and take for that matter) those photographs illustrates a total lack of humanity. I am appalled that any newspaper would sink to such depths in order to sell a few more copies.

Anonymous.

Was there any need to print that photo on the front of Friday's Press. I found it very insensitive, God knows what the poor boy's parents must have thought.

It certainly screams GUTTER PRESS.

Richard Bond.

I AM a 34-year-old York resident who rarely sticks her head above the parapet to make any form of complaint. However, the front page of today's Press, along with the details given on pages six and seven, caused me such distress and left me with such a strong feeling of disgust that I felt compelled to visit your offices on Walmgate this afternoon to make my feelings known.

I am sure it will come as little surprise to you that the story eliciting such an emotional and angry response was that concerning the man who 'threw himself out of the top floor window of a plush York hotel' yesterday.

Whilst I acknowledge that the inicident, which brought York to a near standstill during rush hour, was a newsworthy item, I was sickened by the utterly tasteless decision to publish frame-by-frame pictures of the man falling from the window.

Please explain to me the policy and practice that you apply concerning where the line should be drawn betweeen responsible reporting of fact and the editing of details to protect dignity.

The latest I have heard is that the man is critical but stable. I sincerely hope that the pictures you chose to print do not turn out to be the last ones of the man alive. You may be an expert in these matters and feel that the pictures would in some way comfort his grieving family; I can only hope that this is the case.

I considered your use of eight photographs, giving an almost comic-book account, to be unnecessary sensationalism.

I have never had cause to contact an Editor in this way before, but I felt that it was important for you to know the effect that your decision to print these pictures has had on at least one of your readers.

Mrs Julie Hardie, Scott Street.

I would just like to say that I found your article "Screams of horror as man plunges from hotel" to be in extremely poor taste.

There was absolutely no justification in publishing pictures of somebody falling from a hotel window. That person's family will have seen those pictures, most probably. Not much of a final photo to remember him by, is it?

Even the wording of the article was inappropriate: "the drama began". It's not EastEnders.

I certainly will not be reading your publication ever again.

Andrew Brierley.

I am appalled at the reporting of the young man who fell/jumped from a hotel window in York on Thursday.

I am a mental health nurse.

No-one knows what the circumstances were; his face was clear in the photographs. How do you think his family or, if it was your family member, would feel. I think it was sensationalistic, noncompassionate reporting. I am very disappointed in what I thought was a responsible local newspaper.

Kath Hartley.

I CANNOT believe that The Press has stooped so low as to depict a person potentially falling to his death or at least highly likely to receive severe injury. Then to dedicate two additional pages to the events with similarly offensive pictures of an individual clearly in distress beggars belief. Not only that the individual is clearly identifiable in the majority of pictures that you printed. There's news that needs pictures and there's news that doesn't.

Now I'm not a timid person and I am a person of reasonable firmness. I don't know this individual, yet so offended am I that this is the first time I've ever felt that compelled to voice my disgust.The fact that you used this as a" buy" line on the billboards to sell your papers should be telling you how low you've stooped in your definition of what constitutes "news". What next, dead babies in the labour room! Or perhaps you'll be after getting his X-rays to vividly report in a supplement the extent of his injuries!

It wouldn't surprise me if you don't contact his wife or family to see whether they'd like a blow-up photograph of their loved one falling potentially to his death ...profits before decency ...Last Press I'll ever buy and I hope many others choose to share my view.

Undoubtedly the Editor will welcome my comment as there's probably great kudos attached in eliciting a response, good or bad, from the readers.Plus, you might have something "interesting" to chew over at last.

I have reported this matter to the Press Complaints Authority, such is my depth of feeling on this matter.

Paul Johnson.

I have just had the briefest glance at the front page of today's paper and feel very strongly that you have lost all humanity in showing in such graphic detail the tragedy that happened last night. Have you learned nothing from the outrage of the 9/11 photos? I am disgusted with the editor and who ever else was party to the decision to go to press with that image.

Verlie Riley.

I WRITE to complain about The Press's decision to print enlarged images of a man's attempted suicide yesterday. I saw the man jump from the top floor of the Ramada Hotel as I rounded the corner near my home. This was an extremely traumatic experience and left me, just a bystander, feeling as if I had somehow invaded his privacy by witnessing his fall. Your photographers, however, must have been actually waiting for this moment for upwards of two hours. Printing the resulting image(s) of the man in mid-fall on the front page - and denying readers the knowledge of his survival until they turned to your distasteful double-spread inside - was exploitative both of your readers and of human dignity.

Christina Kenny, Micklegate, York.

I WOULD like to register my disgust of your coverage of the extremely sad incident involving the young man who fell from the window of a local hotel. In particular, the lurid detail in which his fall was "captured"

by your photographer and subsequently displayed on the front page and inside the paper. I can only imagine the distress this probably caused to the family of the man involved, and to those members of the emergency services who had desperately tried to prevent such a terrible outcome.

I ask you: In whose interest was it to publish those photos? I believe I know the answer, and in my view it shames the Evening Press.

Nick Waddington, Langdale Avenue, Burnholme, York.

HAVING seen the front page of today's Press in the local newsagent I can only wonder how far down the gutter your paper can go. It has been getting worse ever since it went tabloid but has now surely hit rock bottom. Was there any need to publish such pictures of an obviously troubled young man trying to kill himself...I think not, and nor did anyone else who was in the newsagents at the time....to a man they were all disgusted. Did you not for one second think of the distress and anguish those pictures would cause to his friends, family and aquaintances? I suspect not. I haven't bought the Press for some time......I certainly never will again.

Andrew Boyes, Thornwood Covert, York.

WOULD you show a picture of someone hanging from a tree with a noose around their neck? No. Would you show someone slitting their wrists in a suicidal act? I hope not. Why? Because it surely would be unethical and innapropriate to do so. So what on earth gives you the right to show pictures on an already mentally disturbed young man attempting to commit suicide from a York hotel on the fornt page of your paper. The picture clearly identifies him and 'glorifies' his moment of desperation for all to see. Surely you can see that someone in his state of mind is in an already vulnerable position and does not need all his family and friends to see a blow-by-blow account of what could have been his final act. Such images could seriously lifelong-psychologically damage relatives and friends as well as being not particularly pleasant images for your readership to see. Imagine if that was your son or brother or friend - is that what you want to see? I think not.

Claire Thompson, Larch Rise, Easingwold.

I AM really upset by your front page story in today's Press. The young man in the pictures must have felt so desperate to take such an action and to glorify it the way you have is unforgivable. Please remember he is someone's son, brother, friend or husband; and I'm sure I'm not the only reader who feels your editorial judgement is questionable.

Jean Clark.

I FEEL that the coverage of the gentleman who jumped from the window of the hotel on Micklegate was unnecessarily sensationalist. What exactly did The Press think it was doing showing a photographic story of the poor man as he decided that his only option was to jump? This was a moment in someone's life where they had reached a personal decision regarding their future that did not deserve to be plastered all over the front page of The Press.

I found this story harrowing enough without having the photographic story unfolding as well like a tabloid problems page. This story could easily have been covered without the photographs; if the Press felt this was a scoop then you are sorely disappointed. I am appalled that the usually sensible and restrained reporting of the paper has degenerated to sensationalism. I trust that we will not see a repeat of this form of reporting. If so, I for one will no longer considering reading your paper.

Gareth Dean, Heslington Lane, Fulford.

I AM writing to say how shocked I was to see, on the front page of Friday May 26th's Press, the photograph of the young man leaping from the hotel bedroom window.How could you publish such a photograph? Have you no consideration for the relatives and friends of this person? Is it not enough that they are distressed by his actions, without his identity being revealed in such a blatant way. I really thought that The Press had higher moral standards .

Ann Mansfield(Mrs), Main Avenue, Heworth, York.

THE lack of "real" news in this quiet town is no excuse for the sensational reporting of a troubled person hitting a low point in their lives ( no pun intended ). I refer to the desperate young man who threw himself out of the hotel window on Thursday and whose angst was graphically recorded in The Press along with a clutch of throwaway comments from eager onlookers. Perhaps the editor should place himself in the shoes of the victim's family & friends, who may be about to lose a son, brother, father, husband etc..and then reconsider his decision to publish such a gory account of his final hours.

Phil Richardson, Pulleyn Drive, York.

I WOULD like to register my disgust at your paper's coverage of the young man attempting suicide in York on Thursday. The pictures used to .........complement!! this article have overstepped your usual professional standards. The horrific front page is in my mind the same standard of action as the 'new trend' of taking photos by mobile phone of unprovoked bullying/assaults and circulating these on the net to cause most harm. As to the defence of this type of journalism, as heard on Radio York by your spokesman, as the incident happened in town where people could see what was happening, then this becomes available for publication, this is a totally unadaquate response. The police held a large road block around the hotel and the closure of the roads etc was only described as an incident, not publicised as an attraction to go and see. Some one has to be held responsible to issue the information in an appropriate and sensitive way. We want the news but not sensationalised. One last thought; if your photographer had arrived at the scene of the fatal car crash a few weeks ago on Stockton Lane, would you have published pictures of the victims?

A.E.Wright, Ashley Park Cres, York.

I AM writing to complain about your coverage of the man's fall from the Ramada Encore Hotel (Press 26/05/06) . I consider that printing the image of the young man falling was grossly insensitive to the feelings of his family and friends. It reflects a disturbing willingness on the part of your organisation to pander to the most voyeuristic and intrusive characteristics of society. It may well be that these are the last conscious moments of that young man's life. The image you have used is therefore of far too intimate a nature for public consumption.

I would be interested also to hear your justification for printing the picture which shows so clearly the man's face. Had you the permission of his family to so identify him? I also object to your gratuitous headline "GOD...NO ". I can see no reason for so speculating on the thoughts and intentions of those witnessing this event. I am sure many there were praying most earnestly but they were praying for a man in trouble, not so a newspaper could hype up the drama in a tragedy This event will affect those involved and those who witnessed it for years to come. The job of the media is to report such tragedies soberly and with sensitivity, not to ruthlessly exploit them for gain. No doubt you will have achieved a substantial lift in sales on Friday. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Eleanor King, Ratcliffe Street, York.

I FEEL I must challenge The Press' decision to publish pictures of the man jumping from a window on Micklegate last Thursday. The coverage you gave was no doubt 'sensational' and dramatic, but in my opinion it was far too graphic and intrusive into this young man's personal trauma. Without exception everyone I have spoken to found it completely distastful and offensive.

Mrs Patricia McCabe, Bishopthorpe Road, York.

PEOPLE seem to be concerning themselves with the fact that firefighters had no trampolines or airbags in the wake of that young lad hurling himself out of a hotel window.

Station manager Carl Boasman is 100% correct when he states that such equipment would be rarely used, the space on fire engines best being used for equipment that will see some action on a daily basis.

What concerns me about this incident and the one in Coney Street the other month is the amount of people who took great delight in watching the events unfold.

Take Coney Street for example. Whilst assisting a police officer I heard many people shout: "Jump". What was all that about?

Take the hotel jump last week, one picture showed people sitting down in Micklegate obviously watching what was going on, I assume this as if they had to get past the incident they would have gone down Rougier St and bypassed it.

I half expected an ice-cream van to turn up and start flogging ice creams or somebody hiring out chairs and binoculars so a better view could be had!

I have heard many people complain about the photos of the lad jumping that appeared in The Press. Judging by the people that were watching and waiting, a photo would never be as good as the real thing.

Most incidents like this end peacefully, every now and again they don't. One thing is for sure, it will always draw a crowd!

PR Willey, Burnholme Drive, Heworth, York.

SINCE the Press went to one edition a day it has seemed different, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why, perhaps now I can see the answer sensationalism!

Nothing shocks me now at my time of life but I think the coverage of the incident at the Ramada Hotel was very insensitive to say the least and I sincerely hope no relatives of the unfortunate young man are not customers of the Press. However, if you printed it to provoke a reaction you have certainly succeeded.

J M Raven, Melcombe Avenue, Strensall, York.