NewsCorp Published The Criminal Record Of An Indigenous Man Who Died From COVID For No Reason
They also shared his name and image without permission from his family.
A NewsCorp paper has come under fire for their disrespectful coverage of the first Indigenous person in Australia to pass away after contracting COVID.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant made the announcement on Monday, as one of four recorded COVID-related deaths. He was only identified as a man in his 50s from the regional city of Dubbo, but The Australian posted the deceased’s name and image without seeking his family’s permission beforehand.
Cultural guidelines stipulate media outlets should liaise with the community before reproducing the name or photographs of recently deceased First Nations people.
Ballardong Noongar journalist Sarah Collard said on Twitter that his family was “very upset” about the article, and “some of his kids weren’t even aware he passed” at the time.
Posted on Tuesday, the article also referred to his time spent in prison, detailed his conviction, and mentioned his living arrangement in a housing commission property — leaving readers wondering why these details were relevant to include at all.
Labor MP Linda Burney shared her condolences with the man’s loved ones, as the Delta variant continues to overwhelm Western NSW. “He was a grand uncle. He saw his grandchild just once,” she told NITV. “I am terribly afraid that this could be the first death of many, I am not trying to be alarmist — I am trying to be realistic”.
The NSW Government has been slammed for failing to protect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, despite sustained concern from community leaders over the last 18 months.
“Indigenous people were prioritised in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout that began in March because of their known vulnerabilities,” the piece in The Australian read, noting that the man was unvaccinated, but failed to report that accessible pop-up and drive through vaccination clinics have only been readily available in Dubbo for the past fortnight.
Just today, fellow NewsCorp publication The Daily Telegraph named and shamed the limousine driver believed to have began Greater Sydney’s second lockdown, once again sparking debate in the ongoing conversation about privacy during COVID under various circumstances.