13 year old Molly Lord was killed in a Quad bike accident at Kembla Grange, near Wollongong, 12 days ago, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.
However, news has emerged that a Channel 7 News reporter was at the scene of the accident just minutes after it happened, searching for a story, while Molly was still on the ground.
The news network then aired helicopter footage (on their website) of Molly’s mother Linda grieving with her deceased daughter, without alerting any of the family members that they would do so.
(The family have requested that we don’t show any content of the news story, and we respect their wishes)
A horrified Linda Lord posted the following to Seven News Sydney’s Facebook page:
Photo: ‘Justice for Linda Goldspink-Lord’ Facebook page
Seven News Sydney has now deleted the post, prompting hundreds of outraged citizens to flood the page with comments of disgust.
One young lady posted the following:
“It makes me sick that you would set aside your own morals for the sake of a story, assuming you have morals that is, because you clearly haven’t shown them. Where is your empathy? You should be ashamed of yourselves! I would never exploit somebody, especially in that circumstance, for a job… how do you sleep at night?”
Channel 7 have also removed the original news story and are yet to comment on the events.
UPDATE:
Chris Willis, the Director of News for Seven News Sydney has finally released a statement about the occurrence:
“Ms Goldspink-Lord’s comments were removed from our site in error. We apologise for that.
Taking into account her understandable distress over the coverage of Molly’s death, I did ask for the footage to be taken down. That happened but unfortunately her remarks were deleted as well. They are now being restored to our Facebook page. I would also like to stress that we have re-examined our reports into Molly’s tragic death and can find no video showing Ms Goldspink-Lord hugging her daughter.
We were not the only television station to visit the family’s property. Our reporter did go to the house but left immediately he was told the family wished to make no comment. Our reporters and camera crews know that grieving families have to be approached with sensitivity and compassion.”
TOTT News would like to send our deepest condolences to Linda Lord and the friends/family of Molly Lord.
13 year old Molly Lord
Photo: Adam McLean
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Channel 7 may delete the article, but the internet never forgets.
Thank you Ethan
TOTT Australia thank you for reporting on this subject whilst showing respect to Molly and her family. The way you reported this shows there is a correct way to do it while respecting the privacy of the family