The media has failed to learn lessons from the death of TV presenter Caroline Flack, according to her mother (Report, 12 March). This comes as no surprise, and I don’t see it changing. If a tabloid paper pledged to be compassionate and respectful, a large percentage of its readership would abandon that publication immediately.
When I was a journalist in the early 2000s, an editor told me the best way to sell a women’s magazine was to induce fear in the reader using the coverlines. The ideal coverline would scare women into thinking there was a new symptom to look out for or a new product to buy, without which something awful could happen. A similar principle applies to newspapers like the Daily Mail.
Celebrities such as Meghan Markle and Caroline Flack are the pawns in this game, where shifting newspapers and magazines is the bottom line. Maybe in the same way that sponsored internet posts have to flag up that they have an ulterior motive for promoting a product, publications should come with warnings reminding the public that they make money from stirring up gossip and strife.
Laura Matthews
West Wickham, London
