TMZ is facing tons of backlash—well-deserved backlash after reporting Liam Payne’s death.
TMZ is a source that many people use across the world to get information and news updates fast. There’s no denying the fact that they are the fastest to report news and most stories.
So yesterday, October 16th, TMZ posted “Liam Payne, Dead at 31.” In the article, they showed his dead body, not the face, just around the waist and hand. This was very unprofessional by TMZ considering how Liam’s family and friends would feel about that.
Following the backlash, TMZ did remove the image. TMZ were the first to release the news that shook the internet. His abdomen, arm, and tattoo were shown in the image.
Several people from the media are speaking about this incident. BBC journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh posted on X, “TMZ is trying to get click and ad money off a young man’s dead body just minutes after the news of his death.”.
TV critic Scott Bryan said, “TMZ should remember that the people they report on are humans—someone’s son, someone’s father.”
In the TMZ original report, they had written, “We’re not showing the whole body, but you can clearly see his tattoos—a clock on his left forearm and a scorpion in his abdomen.”
Later the image was removed and the text was changed to state that TMZ “has seen a photo showing Liam’s body on the deck at the hotel with tables and chairs nearby” and that the visible tattoos “helped us confirm early reports from witnesses.”
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Paul Lashmer, a journalist academic at the University of London who specializes in media ethics, said there are some cases where publishing a photo of a dead body justifies it—including, for instance, to demonstrate the horrific extent of war or if the matter is in the public interest. But generally, he said, “showing the body of someone who has died under tragic circumstances is unethical. Also using human empathy, one would think, If that happened to me, would I want someone to publish a photo of it?”
But this is not the first time TMZ has faced scrutiny. In 2020, when Kobe Bryant passed away in a helicopter crash alongside his daughter and 7 other passengers, the LA Sheriff’s Department called out TMZ during a news conference for purportedly publishing its story before officials were able to notify their family. At that time, TMZ claimed that he had spoken to Kobe’s representatives before running the story. Kobe’s wife, Vanessa Bryant, confirmed that she got her husband’s news online.
