At what point does news gathering turn into stalking? The air crash in Libya has set off a heated debate about the ethical aspects of news reporting in the Netherlands.

One of the things that sparked the controversy was a telephone interview, published by a Dutch daily, with Ruben, the nine-year-old boy who miraculously was the only person to survive the disaster.

Of the 103 people on board the plane that crashed near Tripoli airport, 71 were Dutch. Among them were Ruben’s parents and brother, aged 11.
 
Close-up
Right after the crash, the media focused mainly on the possible causes. When Ruben emerged alive from the wreckage, however, most media seized on ‘Ruben the wonderboy’. Close-ups of Ruben’s swollen face, as he lay with a respirator in a Tripoli hospital, were shown across the world.

Dutch media wrestled with questions of privacy. How far could they go? Some newspapers published pictures taken from a distance. A few front pages featured huge close-ups.
 
Interview
One daily, De Telegraaf, went further, publishing a telephone interview Ruben gave shortly after waking up from hours of surgery. The paper claims it got the boy on the phone by accident, through his surgeon. The interview reveals how the boy bursts into tears as he realises he is not talking to his family but to a journalist. It becomes clear he is not even aware the plane has crashed and his parents and brother are dead.

The interview published by De Telegraaf triggered a storm of protest. How did the daily dare to get in touch with an injured minor, who hasn’t even yet realised what he has gone through? On Twitter the paper was slammed. An initiative for a boycott took hold and hundreds of readers cancelled their subscriptions.
 
“Free news gathering can, in my view, go very far. Here, though, moral propriety has been breached,” one person twitters.

Since then, the Libyan hospital looking after Ruben has been secured at the request of the Dutch foreign ministry, and only his relatives are allowed to see him.
 
Restraint
At what point is moral propriety breached? According to media ethics expert Huub Evers, Ruben has become an icon for the tragedy and papers are therefore entitled to show his pictures, with a modicum of restraint. An interview, however, is really over the limit, Mr Evers stresses. “Children ought to be left alone, especially in these circumstances.”
 
As a rule, family may be approached, Mr Evers argues. In this case, however, Ruben’s family explicitly indicated it wanted no contact with the media. And it did so well before the paper published the interview with the boy. “De Telegraaf has clearly crossed a line here,” Mr Evers’ concludes.

Scapegoat
So there we have our scapegoat. Or is that too easy? De Telegraaf, it turns out, is not the only news source which, lured by a scoop, is exploring the limits of privacy. In one television programme, fragments were read out from a victim’s travel journal found among the wreckage of the plane. Footage taken by Libya’s state television showing Ruben up close before he was identified was later broadcast by Dutch channels.

One newspaper published the complete names of the victims, along with their hometowns. Various media have copied pictures of the victims from social media such as Facebook, and called on their relatives at their homes.

More Catholic than the Pope   
Are the media, hungry for scoops, sacrificing the right to privacy? We can’t pretend to be a sort of media-free reserve in the Netherlands, Mr Evers cautions. “International media, and the internet especially, go well beyond the limits respected by most Dutch media. We should avoid trying to be 'more Catholic than the Pope'.”

It may also be too simple to blame the media. After all, many people today constantly have a camera on them and regularly record anything that catches their attention. TV footage, for example, clearly shows a Libyan doctor taking pictures of Ruben on his hospital bed.

Whatever the ethics, De Telegraaf has since apologised, saying: “Is has never been our intention to take advantage of Ruben’s situation.”