FAMILY NOTICES
If
you’ve ever had to cope with the paperwork
and arrangements that need to be sorted after the death of a relative,
you’ll know how complicated it can be, and how much there
is to be done – and all at a particularly difficult time.
And so it was for Anne Keown, when her mother died at the beginning
of January. Anne described her family to me as a typical N Ireland
family, scattered all over the place. As her brothers and sisters
made their arrangements to travel home, it was left to Anne and her
sister here in Belfast, to organise the death notices in the paper.
She was appalled when she was told that the notices from
sons would be inserted first, followed by daughters. She had
numbered
the notices, and wanted them inserted in that order- eldest child – in
this case a daughter, downwards.
We contacted The Irish News and they told us that they had now taken on board the complaint
since
it was brought to their attention by Anne.
In a statement they
say:
“Ensuring
that family notices appear accurately on the specified day
is paramount.
To achieve this, the newspaper told us, “We have a number
of procedures in place, and the sequence in which they currently
appear is solely with this in mind, and not in deference
to gender.”
However, they go on to say, "we have reviewed our procedure
and will, in future run the notices in alphabetical sequence.”
So
what do other local papers do –
The
Belfast Telegraph tell us that they publish the notices
in the order in which they
receive them from the family.
The News Letter - they told On Your
Behalf that they too put the order of death notices according
to the wishes
of the family.
Maybe your local paper has a different policy – if so we’d
be delighted to hear from you. Or maybe you’ve come across
some other form of gender discrimination?
Email your comments
Your comments
A Portadown
woman says
• I have noticed in the Irish times and the Irish Independent that they
only print notices from the immediate family, and a notice of arrangements. I
think this is respectful and dignified. In other papers, it has almost become
a competition to see who can afford to put the longest notice in.
• The Irish
News are an absolute disgrace, they know they are the
main provider for death notices in the West Belfast area,
and they are abusing that position. They are classing
women as second-class citizens
• I am looking
at the Irish News at the moment. And in one notice, the
names of the children have been put in this sequence:
Sean, Malachi, Colette, Eileen, Teddy etc. If this is
in alphabetical order, I never went to school!
• When
my father was in hospital I was ignored by the surgeon
even though I was one of my father's main carers. The
surgeon actually asked if I was married, and when he
found out that I wasn't he ignored me in favour of
my brother and older sister.
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