How we reported the tragic story of father running over his son
What you need to know:
- NMG editorial policy does not allow the use of a photo without the consent of the owner. The policy also states that, in deciding whether to use a photo, the basic test is whether it is invasive of anyone’s privacy.
- Publishing pictures of the dead, as in the case of the Mutumas, can cause stress and emotional strain to those left behind.
Last Friday, Nation Online published the story of Dan Mutuma, a Kenyan living in the United States, who hit and killed his one-and-a-half-year-old son, Mishael Kirimi, while backing out of his driveway. The story was also published in the Sunday Nation.
The story had wide appeal. It was reproduced by other news organisations, including a newspaper in Nigeria. Unfortunately, it also drew anger, frustration and emotive responses from the Mutuma family.
Sospeter Otieno, a friend of the Mutumas, said the family, especially the father, is distraught over the story. They feel some of the facts were convoluted to achieve “some evil agenda”.
The family is traumatised, he said. The “distortion of facts” has caused Mr Mutuma “further misery”. Mourning families should be consoled, not wounded further, by such stories, said Mr Otieno.
CONSENT
Dorcas, Mutuma’s sister and family spokesperson, complained of the taste and tone of the story, as well as factual errors. She also said Mishael’s picture was lifted from Facebook and used without the family’s permission.
“At no time did the Nation seek consent to use the photo,” said Dorcas. “The father has to deal with the loss of a child and then struggle with the pain of protecting a deceased minor’s invasion of privacy.”
NMG editorial policy does not allow the use of a photo without the consent of the owner. The policy also states that, in deciding whether to use a photo, the basic test is whether it is invasive of anyone’s privacy.
If it is, then the next question is whether the use of the photo is justified by a clear and indisputable public interest.
The policy is explicit: “The public’s right to know often needs to be weighed vis-à-vis the privacy rights of people in the news. Intrusion and inquiries into an individual’s private life without the person’s consent are not generally acceptable unless public interest is indisputably involved. Public interest must itself be legitimate and not merely based upon prurient or morbid curiosity.”
PRIVACY
Our Constitution also guarantees the right to privacy. Article 31 states that every person has the right to privacy that, among other things, includes the right not to have information relating to their family or private affairs unnecessarily required or revealed.
What’s not so clear, from a legal point of view, is whether there is post-mortem privacy. However, it’s possible to argue that the privacy rights of the living relatives extend to those who have departed.
Publishing pictures of the dead, as in the case of the Mutumas, can cause stress and emotional strain to those left behind.
The family also complained that the Nation story was sensational. Dorcas complained, in particular, about the use of the word “crush”.
The story says the father “crushed his own son”. Crash, not crush, is the proper word to use in writing about accidents.
ERRORS
Crash means to hit; crush means to deliberately break up something into pieces. The Nation could have used a more appropriate expression, such as “the son died after being ran over by the reversing car”.
There were also factual errors. The tragedy happened in Olathe, where the Mutumas live, not Kansas City. The two cities are tens of kilometres apart and in two different states.
The story said the family had two other children who are twins. Loise, Mutuma’s wife, may be pregnant with twins but she had not given birth.
The story says Mishael was walking "behind the vehicle". The family says, without elaborating, that that was untrue and the car rear cameras “can attest to that”.
SOURCE
Charles Wanyoro, an Embu-based Nation correspondent, reported the story. He relied on a third party, based in Meru, as his source of information.
He should have talked to the family as well; he might even have come up with a more informative story.
The family also complained that the story intruded into their grief and shock. NMG editorial policy is quite clear on that. It says cases involving personal grief or shock should be handled “with sympathy, empathy and discretion”.
However, I’ve found no evidence that the story was deliberately written to “achieve some evil agenda” or cause the Mutumas “further misery”.
Send your complaints to [email protected]. Call or text 0721 989 264
