Accident near Mopani

Discussions on Vehicle Accidents in the Kruger National Park
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Flutterby
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Re: Accident near Mopani

Post by Flutterby »

Posted on FB by Lorinda Steenkamp:

26 April at 08:04 ·
An open letter to the Letaba Herald regarding the unauthorised use of my personal Facebook post .

Saturday 23 April 2016 will be a day my husband and I will never forget. The things we saw at that accident scene will probably haunt us forever.
That evening, sitting at Shingwedzi, I made a post on my private Facebook wall to share with my family and friends this horrible experience, and also our private emotions.
My Facebook page, as well as that of my husband who was tagged in the post, is not viewable by anybody else than our friends and thus can hardly be considered public domain. Even if our friends shared this post, their friends would not have been able to see it.
We have been battling to come to terms with what we experienced. We were also trying to get some joy out of this Kruger holiday we were looking forward to for some time.
Yesterday we at last started to relax when a friend alerted me to this article in the Letaba Herald.
It is difficult to explain how one feels when your very private emotions are plastered in a newspaper with a sensational headline and a disturbing photo.
Clearly my husband or I have a "friend" who copied this post and supplied it to the Letaba Herald.
The Letaba Herald clearly note that my identity is known to them, yet they made no effort to contact me to get permission to publish this post.
I find it shocking that Bertus de Bruyn published my post verbatim, and then he adds his name to the article. The only writing skills applied was to changing my husband's name to Jan. Is this what journalism has become? Copy and paste? If these are the skills required to be a journalist, then your newspaper can start employing 10 year olds.
If Bertus contacted me, wanting to do an article on the facts of the incident, I would have gladly given him the detail. But clearly information sharing was not his aim. He used my private emotions in a sensational way to boost his newspaper sales.
This post was made after a long and traumatic day. The next day, reflecting on all that happened, we remembered detail that I would have shared with you Bertus, had you contacted me. For example: the commendable way SANParks handled the situation. The care and compassion showed by especially the firsts group of SANParks officials who arrived from Mopani. This was before the first ambulances arrived and they also did whatever they could to help and I believe they must also be traumatised. Maybe if you knew these details you would not have published your other vindictive article that pulls SANParks apart. Well I suppose that is a "maybe" for you Bertus?
I contacted you Bertus and explained to you the trauma we went through. I asked you to remove this report, but you blatantly declined.
I wonder if you even read my post before publishing it. Had you done so, you would have noticed how upset I was about photos being taken of the deceased. In our telephonic discussion I mentioned to you that the use of this photo, which was probably taken by one of the emergency personnel, is totally unethical. I told you that below that blue towel lies the body of a woman we tried to save. She passed away while her young son was watching. If he sees this photo he will know exactly what is underneath that towel. This plea of mine also did not change your mind.
Looking at your actions Bertus, I have no option but to question your integrity as a journalist and as a human being.
As I mentioned to you yesterday, I have now submitted an official complaint with the Press Ombudsman. This type of gutter journalism should not be accepted. It makes a mockery of the entire journalistic profession.
I am now placing this post of mine in the public domain and grant anybody who wants to use it, including other journalists, the right to use it.


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Puff Addy
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Re: Accident near Mopani

Post by Puff Addy »

my private Facebook wall

Anyone who thinks they have privacy on Facebook is seriously deluded.

Is this what journalism has become? Copy and paste?

Yes.


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Lisbeth
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Re: Accident near Mopani

Post by Lisbeth »

A good reason why one should never use facebook 0*\

The only good thing about this is that it happened to Lorinda Steenkamp, who knows how to move and how to defend herself, still it is disgusting to know how far a person can go to enjoy his 10 minutes of celebrity :evil:


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nan
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Re: Accident near Mopani

Post by nan »

right \O less we said (write)... less they will know 0*\

what a :-? @#$


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Richprins
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Re: Accident near Mopani

Post by Richprins »

:shock:

Sjoe!

Lorinda is very well-known and respected indeed!


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