The Courier Mail has broken its silence about yesterday's controversial front page, claiming that it did not intend to disrespect the memory of the woman who was murdered in Brisbane last week.
The Courier Mail's front page yesterday refereed to murdered transgender women Mayang Prasetyo as a 'She Male', which led to The Brisbane Trans Community launching a petition on change.org calling for an apology from the News Corp owned paper. It gained more than 10,000 signatures in a day.
This morning the paper ran a statement in print as well as online stating that: “Many believe that yesterday we presented Mayang’s story in a way that was disrespectful to her memory.”
“The Courier-Mail had no intention of diminishing the value of Mayang’s life, or to add to the grief being felt by her family.”
As of this morning the change.org petition has 21,000 signatures in support of its call for The Courier Mail to not only apologise for its comments but to in all future stories to follow the paper's own code of conduct.
The existing code of conduct reads: "Do not make pejorative reference to a person’s race, nationality, colour, religion, marital status, sex, sexual preferences, age, or physical or mental capacity. No details of a person’s race, nationality, colour, religion, marital status, sex, sexual preferences, age, or physical or mental incapacity should be included in a report unless they are relevant."
Regardless of the statement The Press Council still has an obligation to examine the complaints made about the front page.
See the statement from The Courier Mail in full below:
Victim's memory should be valued
Mayang Prasetyo was the innocent victim of a horrendous crime, killed by the man she should have been able to trust the most.
She should be remembered — as we reported yesterday — for her cheerful and friendly disposition, and for the care she had showed her family and loved ones in Indonesia.
Many believe that yesterday we presented Mayang’s story in a way that was disrespectful to her memory.
The Courier-Mail had no intention of diminishing the value of Mayang’s life, or to add to the grief being felt by her family.
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