I am so angry........

Hi flick. My new hairdresser has much better mags, like the ones you mention. My point is someone must be buying these magazines, sensational newspapers, etc. and it's the 'general public'. So they are to blame equally. So many GNetters seem not to buy newspapers, or at least not the trashy tabloids, but someone is. I remember an old lady who used to live next door, a sweet old lady who'd do anything for you, but she was always full of the latest nasty shoe biz gossip. And it's only a short step for there to obtrusive reporting on family tragedies.

My hair dresser, not an upmarket one has Elle, Bazaar and Homes and Gardens. Full of ludicrously expensive but, at the moment oh so beautiful clothes and accessories.

I felt very uncomfortable seeing the photographs, taken at the funeral, of the tragic father of the family who died in that house fire. I do not think that reportage of funerals should have any closeups of the family mourners.

I always feel uncomfortable when a TV interviewer will push a microphone in the face of someone who has just lost a child/relative or had some other traumatic experience and asks the stupid question "how do you feel".

I remember some years ago watching a programme about children who were shipped off to Australia and an Australian reporter was talking to a man who said he had been told his mother had died and it was only as a adult that he found out he had been lied to and by the time he traced her she had passed away. At that point he broke down and instead of the camera zooming in on his face which is what would happen with UK TV the interviewer lowered the microphone, put is hand on the mans shoulder and the camera was turned away.

Does anyone else feel insulted by the magazines on offer at some hairdressers or beauticians? Nothing worth reading just scandal mags such as 'Hello' and 'OK'?

just one reason I don't buy papers anymore..I may have a glance at them if one is lying around somewhere..but then I rememebr why! I don't buy them !

My story is very very trivial compared with the real tragedies other people have talked about.

Some years ago an acquaintance had an affair reported and written up in the News of the World. Just a very ordinary and I think not long lived affair. Neither of them was in the public eye, he was a university lecturer and she ran a village shop. I assume it was her aggrieved husband who supplied them with the story. The only point of interest was the difference in their occupations, The article was headed something like 'The Don and the shop girl' no descriptions of nights of passion or other titillating details.

I have never understood the point of running the article. Nobody who knew him was surprised by the story, he had a track record, and I cannot imagine that the average NoW reader would get excited about an article about an unknown lecturer and shop manager having an affair. It was of course embarrassing for each of them. But apart from that why chase such a non-story?

My husband was killed in an M5 crash. The police who came to inform us were very sensitive and careful about how they explained to myself and the children, as the full details were a bit horrific.
I had a local newspaper journalist at the door at 9am the next morning wanting details. She was sent packing and said we were too sad to talk and we wanted to be private.
By 5pm the same day the same newspaper had printed full details, with awful graphic photographs of the accident. We had not seen any of these as the police were trying to be senstive towards our feelings. One family member was traumatised and in total shock when she picked up the newspaper without knowing the article was going to be in there.
I contacted the editor and complained. He apologised for causing us distress but said that once any news has been released by police is "in the public domain" and therefore newspapers are free to publish.

It is POWER WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY

We so need to boycott these papers

When our son died at age 16 after an asthma attack the press had found out about it by hanging around A&E. They were not told our address but managed to find out the name of our village. They knocked on doors but nobody would give them information. They also rang around the undertakers but got nothing there. We were well protected by the villagers many of whom did not know us and were always grateful. Today 22 years later I always rant when I see a story in the paper or on the news with a reporter intruding on someones sorrow. Public interest it is not.

chocolatepudding ((((hugs)))) the pain never goes away I know.

chocolatepud how distressing for you. I used to think journalism was a noble profession but not any more.

chocolatepudding - for you, too. How very, very sad.

vampirequeen how horrible for you at a time when you really didn't need such treatment.

Sadly I have a similar tale to Vampirequeen to tell.

I found my 7 month old daughter dead in her cot one Sunday morning when we were staying with my parents. My DF called for an ambulance and my DH did the kiss of life. Even the ambulance men could not revive her. The ambulance stayed at the house for at least one hour as my PILs were phoned and they came over to see DD before she went to hospital.

The next Thursday the local weekly rag came out and it was the Christmas Eve edition. On the front page BABY FOUND DEAD IN COT and 3 inches of complete fiction..."collapsed and died and was rushed to hospital"???????

We wrote and complained and had a pathetic letter of apology.

If the opportunity arose even now, some 36 years later, I would tear that journalist and his editor limb from limb for the additional pain they caused us. It taught me to never believe the press...and to stand up and fight.

Absolutely awful, vampirequeen. No consideration of your feelings at all, in such sad circumstances.

vampire {{{hug}}}

Vampirequeen losing a child is the worst thing that can happen to a family. At a time like that you don't need any extra pain ((((hugs)))

My son died of natural causes at 7.45 pm and the local newspaper reported his death in the early edition the next day giving enough information for people to realise it was us even though they didn't mention our name. So we never got the chance to break the news to friends and family gently. The paper did it instead. They did a long report about when the ambulance was called, our child being pronounced dead and us being interviewed (they didn't say the interview took place in our living room and was just a statement of what happened). Then finally they ended with 'The police say there were no suspicious circumstances.' So in effect it was a non story. When challenged they said it was a public interest story. How was the death of our baby of interest to anyone but us?

This intrusion into people's lifes should be banned.

A friend of mine lost her ex husband in a car crash; the press hounded her family for ages. They're disgusting; I don't know how they sleep at night .

grannya you have good right to be angry, I hope it settles down very soon for you all

ga
Maybe half the problem arises ( press attention ) from the fact that your relative is very attractive?
Would they bother with a mousey person?
Just a thought.

ga no wonder you're angry! I do hope things settle soon. What jackals some journalists. are.

ga they are complete b******s, aren't they? Why on earth do they think there is a sensational story to be derived from a widow just getting on with her life? Press intrusion cannot be justified here. I hope it stops.

The trouble is that they will continue to hang around, ring doorbells, interview neighbours, etc. until they get what they want or a bigger story breaks. That's why we see so many worried/bereaved/frightened families doing a press conference on TV – the police recommend it because it makes the journalists go away.

Oh aren't they just like vultures, Poor lady.
I agree with both the above posts. You need to fight back.