Murdoch due a 'dressing down' over Sky story on Rausing 'bin bag' misfortune?

I think “Sky God” Rupert Murdoch may be due a “dressing down”for his company’s shamefully opportunistic publication of a “story” on the demise of Eva Rausing.

Not least because the seemingly hastily published news that the American’s remains were found “in a bin bag” was published alongside a Debenhams clothing advertisement, featuring white dresses that bizarrely mimicked the white gown Rausing is wearing in a wedding photo that accompanies the “story."

I call it a “story” with some reservation because the item that first informed the world of the condition in which Rausing’s remains were discovered was only 26 words in length – giving the impression, perhaps, that any concerns about taste were sacrificed on the altar of newsroom expedience. That brief item first appeared on the Sky News website at approximately 3 p.m. today. It ended with the note “More to follow…”

By 4 p.m. - the last time this writer followed it up – it had evolved into something resembling a more respectable treatment of the issue, distilled in several paragraphs. The earlier “scoop," however, remains to be deplored. It read “The body of the millionairess was found at her London home in bin bags sealed up with gaffer tape, West London Magistrates' Court has been told."

These words are almost an exact repetition of a prefacing note appearing under the story's headline. That note read, “The body of millionairess Eva Rausing was found at her London home in bin bags sealed up with gaffer tape, a court is told.” A large photograph of the Rausing couple and a single sentence separated that prefacing note from the 26-word repetition of the information it had communicated. That sentence reported the news that “Hans Kristian Rausing has been granted conditional bail after he appeared in court charged with preventing the lawful burial of his wife, Eva.”

The charge brought against the Tetra Pak heir is what an learlier Sky story focused on. Sky might have done well to stick with that angle. As for the Debenhams clothing add, this has been replaced with an ad for “Jackpot Joy." But the earlier unfortunate Adchoices placement may give rise to serious questions being asked about the way such computerized systems work. Certainly, if Murdoch and other newsmongers (this writer included) who “trade on the tragedies of others” are to be properly schooled in media sensitivity, the analytics or placement technology behind such adverising should be a topic of serious discussion.