Earlier this year, iMediaEthics highlighted an interesting apology out of the Irish Mail of Sunday. The Mail on Sunday apologized to a woman who had just lost five family members in a car accident because she “had not consented to being interviewed.”
So how did the woman, Louise James, not know she was being interviewed? And what happened? There were finally some answers about this apology this summer.
The Guardian’s Roy Greenslade reported this summer on the backstory.
James did talk to Mail on Sunday journalist Alison O’Reilly, but didn’t realize that she was recording her or was a journalist, according to Donegal Now. O’Reilly had brought her children with her, which further apparently confused James.
The newspaper put O’Reilly on leave and investigated the interview. According to Greenslade, after publication, executives listened to O’Reilly’s recording with James and found out James hadn’t really noticed the fact O’Reilly said she was a journalist because James was so upset.
The Irish Mail on Sunday decided O’Reilly should instead work for the sister paper Irish Daily Mail’s news department. The Mail on Sunday journalist, Alison O’Reilly, left the newspaper.
iMediaEthics has contacted the Daily Mail for more information and confirmation about this matter, but hasn’t heard back.
IPSO told iMediaEthics by e-mail it had no complaints regarding the interview. O’Reilly doesn’t appear to have any social media presence.