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Image of chid's body on the internet


Mark Bryn

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**Have any other parents on this site have to live with knowing that the images of the body of their child is forever archived on the internet by a corporation?

**Any suggestions?

 

Our child was killed in July 2016 in a traffic accident.

Global News, the local TV news company, had a news story of the accident at that time.

The Global News website archived the old news story on their website showing images our child’s dead body.

I asked Global News if they would remove the archived news story, or remove the images of my child’s body from the file, or remove the links to the archived file (linking my child’s name to the archived file).  Global News will not.

I had legal advice, and have contacted several government members and offices, and I understand I have no legal right to ask Global News due laws protecting “journalistic use”.

 

Global News archiving the report on their website continues victimization of the victim, and us.

As Bryn’s parents, we have no legal rights to how a corporation uses our child’s images or identifies him on the internet.

 

Global News has all the legal rights to images of our child’s dead body and his identification on the internet, since that journalistic.

Global TV and the parent company Corus Entertainment have the rights to run ads and make money from ads, for any viewing of the archived accident report with the images of our child’s body.

It is difficult to accept any of that is right.

Do not want images of my child’s dead body on the internet.

 

The legal privileges of a journalistic corporation and the more recent internet ability for unlimited data storage and internet speed, and the unlimited victimization to the grieving by a corporation, is disproportionate the lack of any legal rights of individuals.

 

Our child was killed commuting to work with a co worker for a summer job before starting first year at university.  The co worker was driving; the accident occurred the morning of the third day of their commute together. He was killed 12 days after grade 12 graduation.  Bryn was 17.

The car driver got a new car, and a reference letter from the employer.  The truck driver got his truck repaired.  And Bryn gets to be a dead body on Global News, forever.  Somehow it adds to the despair.

 

 

Sincerely,

Mark

 

 

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Mark,

First let me say that I am very sorry for your loss. Losing a child is the hardest thing anyone can go through, and I am very sorry you have to go through that.

My son Nathaniel was murdered three weeks before his 21st birthday, and it also made the news along with pictures. No direct pictures, because he was transported to the hospital, and I can't imagine your pain at having to have those out there without being able to draw them back. It's a frustration that adds to the grief. There is a news article written about my son that had some lies and slander against him from a former landlord (scheister) and I attempted to have at least his words about the character of my son pulled from the article.  But they would not do it, and it worries me in some way that a potential juror might have read the lies and had something against my son, who did nothing wrong.

Journalists are a shady bunch sometimes, and they stand by the "integrity" of their stories and publishing instead of having some actual integrity and removing things that would hurt and cause pain.  There is no benefit for having your son's picture exposed like that, and it is only causing you and your family harm. It's not right, and those kinds of ideals of "integrity" and supposed "ethical journalism" are a farce.  I am so very sorry that you have to deal with that.

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mark I am so sorry for the loss of your child and for the additional pain of media attention for profit. I cannot imagine the agony for you knowing you cannot delete those images. My son Tommy was killed in 2015 after going out onto a ledge to save his suicidal friend 14 stories up. he talked his friend down finally and they were coming back in the window when it broke and they both fell. Tommy died soon after from his injuries, but his friend survived. because of the impact of his story of bravery it made the news both here in the UK where we live and also in Hawaii where it happened. It was taken up b the tv stations and made the news internationally. Although I am so very proud of my son it was very distressing to see his face on the tv and in the papers. I felt i owed it to him to say a few words, in one phone interview and on the day of his inquest this Jan but my main focus is appealing to the university of Manoa to install window locks on the dorm rooms and I email them every year. I gave no information about the identity of his friend, and kept my children out of the focus because they needed to grieve privately. I was always aware that the media are a double edged sword and can tear you down as well as telling the story and can print untruths. Have you considered a public appeal on tv or social media to try and force Global to remove the images? There would be huge support from the public i am sure as this is an unimagineable invasion of privacy and no one could possibly support the view that it is newsworthy. I am sure some of the parents on this site would share a FB post or retweet etc in support of you and get the word out to shame Global. Also this is a wonderful site full of caring bereaved parents trying to help each other through grief which is a lonely and scary time.

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Devianz, Tommy's mum - Thank you for your support.  I am very sorry to learn of the loss of your children.

I had thought a public appeal, but I don't really know how or where to begin.  It is not a story the regular corporate media would be interested in, since they all would have the same opinion: whatever images and information they have are their property.  FB would be more public than I would want, Bryn's mother is on FB all the time, including keeping in touch with many school friends of Bryn; to see a friend's body available on the internet is more than I would want his friends to have to know, they are still just children.

Since I have exhausted other routes, I have been left with leaving signs in front of the news station. The news station has become another place for me to grieve.

 

Thank you for sharing.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

 

 

 

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mark I get it, may be too public on a social media website and could reach even more children who could view the images. What an awful dilemma to be in, on one hand wanting to go public and let the world know but on the other needing to keep a lower profile to protect your family's privacy. The media can be a source of inspiration and encourage charitable giving, acts of kindness and publicity for worthy causes, yet conversely be ruthless, unforgiving and muck raking like vultures. Is it possible for you to arrange a meeting with the CEO? If you could meet up and bare your pain as a parent maybe there would be a change of heart? Sometimes human to human contact is needed.My only other suggestion is finding a hacker to delete the file but I would not have a clue as to how you would find one. Also that would probably be illegal and you do not want to go to jail as your family and friends need you. Is there any websites out there or blogs from parents/family members who have been in the same situation? This cannot be an isolated incident surely. I wish I could magic up a solution for you but I can't, because I know how awful your pain is.

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