TV presenter Caroline Flack was found dead in her London flat on 15 February. Her family confirmed that she took her own life, and the tragic news has people shocked.
In December, Flack quit her presenting role on the ITV show Love Island. Her decision was reportedly influenced by an assault charge against her.
Mental health
Flack had previously opened up about her mental health struggles. She had also gone on to talk about the pressure she had recently been under. In the wake of Flack’s death, people have shared her social media posts discussing her mental health:
A wake up call to all of us. We have to do better and be better. #CarolinesLaw pic.twitter.com/o7CwvCJ2o2
— Mike (They/Them) 🏳️⚧️🇵🇸 (@_MxMike) February 16, 2020
Media hypocrisy
Along with support for Flack, the hashtags #DontBuyTheSun, #StopFundingHate, and #CarolinesLaw have also been trending. Calls to boycott The Sun because of its alleged ‘bullying’ of Flack have flooded Twitter:
The Sun deleting 100s of articles hounding, bullying and ridiculing Caroline Flack. She was clearly vulnerable and in distress.
Once again #dontbuythesun and don’t click on their stories. #ripcaroline https://t.co/i6Rw4uTAUP
— Deirdre Heenan (@deirdreheenan) February 15, 2020
Listen… every single person (celebrities, athletes or otherwise) asked to do an interview for The S*n, needs to say no.
All of us.
Don’t speak to ‘em, don’t advertise in it, don’t buy it.
Let it rot.#boycotthesun— Tez (@tezilyas) February 16, 2020
And people are calling attention to the tabloid media’s hypocrisy:
Here we have the sun newspaper yesterday, publishing an arctical about Caroline Flack being abusive and today they are promoting their ‘You’re Not Alone’ campaign about mental health on the story about her death. Practice what you fucking preach. pic.twitter.com/AIj8YNq2c2
— Ben (@bencrawford93) February 15, 2020
The Sun had only days ago published an article about a Valentine’s Day card mocking Flack and referring to the assault charges against her. The article has now been taken down. Furthermore, petitions are taking off to demand greater accountability from the media:
Nothing will bring back this beautiful woman, but this needs to never happen again! #CarolinesLaw UK Parliament: Launch Government inquiry into the British press following the death of Caroline Flack – Sign the Petition! https://t.co/2wrk6Jzwx8 via @UKChange
— Sarah Ball (@sarahnicole2612) February 16, 2020
https://twitter.com/Stephdavis77/status/1228879092440846338?s=20
There’s no question that Flack’s death is a tragedy. While we can’t speculate on what caused her to take her own life, it should never be acceptable for the media to target individuals based on unproven allegations. Particularly from media outlets with national circulation, because of their far-reaching influence and impact.
Corporate media outlets keep putting profits before people. So while stricter laws will help, in the meantime, cutting off support from right-wing, tabloid media is definitely a step in the right direction.
Featured image via The Canary
