"Facebook murder" story ridiculous

Today's front page of Brisbane's The Courier Mail screamed FACEBOOK MURDER.  This was the part of the story that made the rest of the front page:

WHAT started as a Facebook message from a former boyfriend has ended in the gruesome murder of Sarah Elston, a talented young Brisbane artist.

'West End artist Sarah, 22, was looking forward to catching up with her former flame who contacted her on the popular social networking website. But in a crime that shocked her family and friends the free-spirited artist was found dead in her unit on Tuesday night with multiple injuries.

Neighbours heard screams during the night but did not investigate because of frequent disturbances in the street.

Friends revealed how Sarah, 22, was "happy and excited" about seeing her former boyfriend again after he got in touch with her on the internet.

"She hadn't seen him in a long time but then he contacted her via Facebook," friend Danae Walker said.

Ms Walker, who last saw Sarah only hours before her death, described her as the sort of person who would always give someone a second chance. 

"She could always find something positive in everyone," she said.

You can read the rest of the report here.  What I find appalling about this headline - and to a lesser degree the article - is that it makes Facebook out to be in some culpable in Sarah Elston's death.  When in fact the former boyfriend could have contacted her in any number of ways.  If it was by phone, would the headline be "Telephone Murder"?  Or if it was by email, would it be "Email Murder"?  Fax, letter, postcard?  Well, you get my point.  It sends the wrong message about Facebook entirely as it demonises it as it suggests Facebook was somehow responsible for this tragedy.  The only thing this really says about Facebook is that it is a new way of communicating between friends.  That hardly makes Facebook a murderer.

Comments

[Angus]

Imagine if it has said "Telstra Murder" rather than your suggested "Telephone Murder". Frankly, I have up the courier mail many years ago as being much more than the government's (Brisbane and qld gov) mouthpiece.

[Cath B]

Yes I had the same reaction. Though what I found even more disturbing about that article was that her MySpace link, which had clearly been set up incognito, was included by the author. There was something very incongruous about an article which pointed the finger at one social network tool, while at the same time giving out links to another!

[St John the Blasphemist]

You should have seen the piddly amount of space they gave her previously.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23811345-3102,00.html

I agree that the headline may sound 'demonising' toward facebook, but hey, that's how it happened.

Also, Sarah was a well known artist & good friend to many (self included). She was known as skitL (note the signature on her artworks) to all, so I'd hardly call it 'incognito', as Cath B seems so quick to assume. The myspace link was provided to the Courier Mail journalist by friends.

Farewell Sarah. You've finally found true freedom.

[Cath B]

I am really sorry about your loss St John. It was clear to me after reading her MySpace page that Sarah was a very talented and extraordinary woman - one that I would know nothing about were it not for her MySpace link. I just think it's tragic that her story had to be told in what feels to me like a headline grabber (ie the evil Facebook), especially when it was a similar tool that gave me such insight into her life. One that I would not have had otherwise.

Several years ago I watched a group of people who only knew each other through Yahoo organise a fund raiser to help a woman that many of them did not know. These days it is so rare to find people rallying together in the 'real' world, and I was enormously touched by the way people could connected through this virtual medium. But you just don't read stories like that in the press. The only story I've ever read about Yahoo was one where a young man suicided while being taunted by a chat room. Like Facebook, Yahoo was branded as evil.

My point is, we hear all about the bad, but we rarely hear the good. And at the end of the day it is people that abuse the tools, not the tools themselves.

However, please accept my apologies as my comments were never meant to offend.