1,000 signatures reached
To: The House of Commons and Oliver Dowden - Secretary of State for Media
Caroline's Law
To consider a law that would make it a criminal offence, not dissimilar to Corporate Manslaughter, for the British Media to knowingly and relentlessly bully a person, whether they be in the public eye or not, up to the point that they take their own life.
Why is this important?
Sections of the British press & media act with impunity, and more recently there have been a number of cases where they have sought to sensationalise the misfortune of individuals (mainly those already in the public eye, but not always so) to the catastrophic detriment of the individuals' mental welfare. The Jeremy Kyle show, and Caroline Flack being recent examples.
We'll never truly know all of the things that were going on in Caroline's mind when she took the decision to take her life. But we do know that sections of the media were quite happy to drag her life through the wringer purely in order to sell a few more papers and it's just not right. What price is a life? This isn't the first time this has happened, and I'm concerned that without a new law, it won't be the last.
