Seven apologises over social media headline
“The caption on the post was swiftly rectified as soon as it was identified," says Seven after a badly-worded headline.
- Published by David Knox
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Seven News has apologised over a now-deleted Facebook post following Italy’s win at the Euro 2020.
Seven online filed copy AAP on racial abuse after England’s Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho, all missed their penalty shots.
While the story slammed the online racism, the headline by Seven took a different angle, which effectively laid the loss at the three players: “Three Black players failed in the penalty shootout which England lost 3-2 against Italy.”
It later amended the headline to: “Three players failed in the penalty shootout which England lost 3-2 against Italy.”
“Earlier on Monday, a 7NEWS.com.au social media post was published with a regrettable mistake,” Seven later said in a statement.
“The post linked to an article condemning the racial abuse of England football players following the team’s loss to Italy in Sunday’s Euro 2020 final.
“The caption on the post was swiftly rectified as soon as it was identified.
“We sincerely apologise for the offence the post caused.”
But Seven copped its own tirade for the angle it took to the AAP copy, and in the world of social media, not everyone reads the story so much as the headline.
Charlie Pickering asked, “Hey @7NewsAustralia – what the f*** is with this headline? Have you lost your actual mind? And how has the person who wrote it been counselled?”
Here are some others:
A statement from @FootballAUS. pic.twitter.com/dCTxKrOP5i
— Football Australia (@FootballAUS) July 12, 2021
With racism a rising social scourge in Australia, on online platforms & athletes subject to vile abuse after #Euro2020Final + here in Australia, to see this from a major network in Australia is beyond disgusting. Reprehensible. There needs to be a public apology @7NewsAustralia pic.twitter.com/KXluoT6ZBb
— Craig Foster (@Craig_Foster) July 12, 2021
It’s 2021 @7NewsAustralia get your house in order. This headline is disgraceful. pic.twitter.com/h4aJqPH5Th
— Antoinette Lattouf (@antoinette_news) July 12, 2021
Surely this is #illegal in #Australia? It’s absolutely disgusting.
— Robyn Grote (@Robyn_Grote) July 12, 2021
@7NewsAustralia Wow just Wow……😡 #Disgrace pic.twitter.com/dwOeBziRAG
— Emma Springford (@emzz6) July 12, 2021
I wonder what went through the minds of the racist writers of racist @7NewsAustralia with their "three Black players" headline?
The first three words are telling: that the players' skin colours & race, foremost, were attributable to England's failure.
Straya Journalism#racism
— Brian Fiu Kōlia (@BKolia) July 12, 2021
Source: news.com.au
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- Tagged with Euro 2020, Seven News
3 Responses
It wasn’t a “regrettable mistake”. It was an intentional headline.
It boggles the mind to think how a mistake like this even happens. Is the race to get content out in the 24 hour news cycle more important than spending a few seconds making sure the headline even makes sense?
Apparently not.
I didn’t see 7 news last night, however I feel an apology should have been the first story. Owning it, and describing what they are going to do to ensure this type of language/description is not published. Additionally, understanding why someone would feel the need to use that as a description is equally important.