As attempt of illegal organ procurement case to the UK picks up speed, those covering it should avoid using the sensationalist playbook

Those covering court proceedings involving an alleged case of illegal organ procurement to the UK should in my view highlight the strength of the organ allocation framework in the country.

Attention to the case has begun to gather speed in the last 24 or so hours and everyone involved in reporting it would do well to exercise caution in how they go about doing this.

As documented by experts (here's another example), this is the kind of extraordinary developments that feed into popular narratives that harm public confidence in reliable, well-established organ allocation systems.

Indeed, NHS Blood and Transplant provides transparent information about Organ donation laws with crystal clear explanation of how the system works in the United Kingdom.

And thus, that the people involved failed to persuade medics (paragraph four) to carry out the procedure could be emphasised instead of giving in to the temptation of sensationalist angles about illegality, plots, bribes, etc., one can find in the coverage - even that of news outlets known to adhere to strong journalistic ethics.

Court proceedings guarantee renewed attention to
the case, as illustrated by this recent BBC report)

When the story was first covered by The Daily Mail online, the reporter highlighted that a London doctor had rejected the procedure, but use of the expression "organ-harvesting parents", which paraphrased a prosecutors' statements, suggests the coverage stemmed from the sensationalist playbook.

None of this is to say that the events the press has been reporting are not worth reporting, since any transgressions to the legal framework need to be investigated and acted upon according to due process.

Responsible treatment of the subject, which absence is known to cause harm to a healthy culture of organ donation, is also essential.

As I've written before, transformation of public discourse about organ donation, including that contributed by the news media, has been going in the right direction in recent times.

But recent gains could be easily reversed and, as research suggests, the mediatisation of public health is subject to political and cultural forces that are sometimes uncontrollable (see here for an example). I'll aim to elaborate on this point in my next post.

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