10 Times The Media RUINED People's Lives

An average working-class girl from Upshire, Essex, Jade Goody was catapulted to fame when she appeared on the third series of the reality show “Big Brother”. Goody was vilified by the press and the public for her appearance and intellect, which was only made worse by what many deemed to be a disloyal personality. While Goody initially leveraged her fame to build a successful career, her image was once again marred following a racially-motivated incident on “Celebrity Big Brother”. The media hounding never stopped, not even when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Some even accused her of monetizing her condition and wanting to die in the spotlight. Ultimately, Goody passed away in March 2009 at the age of 27.

The 2013 Boston Marathon bombing was a terrorist attack that claimed the lives of three people and injured nearly 300 others. While authorities investigated the case, amateur online sleuths pored through hundreds of pictures and surveillance videos attempting to fish out the perpetrators. One particular image showing Salah Eddin Barhoum and his friend eventually made its way to the front page of the New York Post, seemingly labeling them as potential suspects. However, the actual culprits were identified later that same day. Despite the publication clarifying the article and the FBI clearing Barhoum, the damage was already done. The Moroccan teen experienced profound emotional distress and was reportedly too scared to even leave his house.

Robert Murat

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Robert Murat, a British-Portuguese consultant, was thrust into the spotlight after the 2007 disappearance of Madeleine McCann. As a resident of Praia da Luz, Portugal, Murat initially assisted the local police in their investigation as a translator. However, authorities began looking into him and soon named him a suspect. Murat was interrogated for hours and his house was combed for any evidence, but none was found. Notwithstanding, British tabloids labeled him a predator and wrongly claimed that McCann’s DNA was found in his house. Murat was eventually cleared as a suspect and successfully sued the newspapers that linked him to the crime. Despite this, he still feels that he will always be associated with McCann’s disappearance.

Richard Jewell was working as a security guard at the Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when he discovered a suspicious backpack under a bench. Jewell immediately alerted the authorities and helped evacuate the area before the bag, which contained a bomb, exploded. Jewell was initially praised for his efforts but the eyes of suspicion quickly turned on him. The press attention was so aggressive, Jewell could hardly leave his house. He was painted in the media as someone looking for 15 minutes of fame by planting a bomb and later discovering it. Although he was later cleared of any involvement by the FBI and the actual perpetrator was arrested, Jewell’s reputation was forever marred.

David Gazley

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In 2003, British tabloid newspaper The Sun made a grave error that upended an innocent man’s life. The publication put out an article in which they identified a man who was a convicted sex offender. However, in place of the man’s actual picture, they mistakenly showed one of a completely different person, David Gazley. This error triggered a cascade of detrimental consequences for Gazley. He reportedly had to move out of his house and holed up at a friend’s place for fear of public attacks. The Sun published two apologies to Gazley, claiming that the mix-up had come from a picture agency. The newspaper later paid an undisclosed amount in damages to Gazley.

Diego P. V.

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Criminal suspects are typically presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of law. But in the case of Diego P. V., the Spanish media acted as judge, jury and executioner. Diego found his name in the headlines when his girlfriend’s daughter passed away after suffering a fall in a playground. A doctor misinterpreted the bruises and marks on her body as signs of an assault and immediately alerted the police. Diego was arrested and his pictures were splashed on the front pages, with sensational headlines that accused him of being responsible for the girl’s demise. When an autopsy revealed the true cause of her death, the newspapers apologized. But Diego was already so emotionally distressed by the ordeal that he required psychiatric treatment.

Christopher Jefferies

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When the body of Joanna Yeates was found on Christmas Day, 2010, police brought in her landlord Christopher Jefferies for interrogation. Yeates had initially been missing for about a week before her body was found in the snow about three miles away from her apartment. Jefferies, who also lived in the same building, was questioned for two days and released on bail. Although no charges were filed against him, the British tabloids demonized Jefferies, focusing on his eccentric appearance and peculiar behavior. All of this painted the picture that he was responsible for Yeates’ death. Even after another neighbor of theirs, Vincent Tabak, was charged with the crime, Jeffries remained under intense scrutiny from the press and the public.

In 2009, protests broke out in Iran following the heavily disputed election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Neda Agha-Soltan, an Iranian student, was shot and killed during these protests. Her death was videotaped and widely shared on the internet, becoming a rallying symbol for the movement. However, when international publications began to report Agha-Soltan’s death, they mistakenly used the Facebook picture of another woman with a similar name - Neda Soltani. As a result, Soltani was vilified by both sides of the protests. The Iranian government claimed that she was the same person and had faked her death, while the protesters saw her as a government agent sent to destroy their movement. This led Soltani to escape from Iran to Germany, where she was granted asylum.

In the weeks following the 9/11 attacks, a series of letters containing the toxin anthrax were sent to the offices of certain U.S. senators and news organizations. This act of bioterrorism led to the deaths of five people. Early on in the investigation, a reporter connected American physician and bioterrorism expert Steven J. Hatfill to the letters, triggering an FBI investigation. When he was publicly named a person of interest in the case, the media ran with it, creating a narrative of guilt that tainted his reputation. Hatfill sued the FBI and multiple publications including the New York Times, Vanity Fair and Reader’s Digest. In 2008, he was officially cleared of any wrongdoing in the attacks.

Caroline Flack was best known as the presenter for popular reality shows like “The Xtra Factor” and “Love Island”. Throughout her career, Flack had been the subject of considerable media coverage, mostly regarding her high-profile romantic relationships. Things, however, took a devastating turn in 2019 when she was arrested and charged with assaulting her boyfriend Lewis Burton. Flack was subsequently hounded by the press and her coverage in the tabloids became increasingly negative. This, coupled with online trolling, took a significant toll on her already fragile mental health. On February 15th 2020, seemingly dreading the media intrusion in the face of her apparent assault trial, Flack tragically took her own life.