In the news

The knock at the door: Considering bereaved families’ varying
responses to news media intrusion.

Jackie Newton, Liverpool John Moores University

Relationships between the news media and the
“news-worthy” bereaved have long been problematic, with the attention
of scholars and journalists alike concentrating on the issues of
intrusion and harassment during grief. This study begins to consider
the “death knock” and continued media approaches from the position of
the families themselves and finds that although there is undoubtedly
evidence of anger at intrusion, there is a demonstrable willingness to
engage with the media from the majority of interviewees. It also finds
evidence that some families have felt excluded by the news media from
the stories of their relatives’ deaths