MH17: Reporter Made Error In Crash Site

Posted by African Examiner Trending Stories Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014

SKY News reporter Colin Brazier has admitted he was wrong to handle victims’ belongings at the MH17 crash site in Ukraine.

Writing in The Guardian, the journalist said the site was unchecked and he was “free to walk around at will”.

But he called his “gaffe” a “serious error of judgement” and said he cried on-air after seeing a child’s flask.

More than 100 people complained to media watchdog Ofcom after Brazier’s live Sunday lunchtime broadcast.

The complaints are currently being assessed before the broadcasting regulator decides whether to launch an investigation.

The report showed Brazier picking up items from an open suitcase.

He dropped them back into the luggage saying “we shouldn’t really be doing this I suppose, really”.

A spokesperson said both Sky News and Brazier “apologise profusely for any offence caused”.

Writing his version of events following a vociferous backlash on social media, Brazier said other journalists were acting on the freedom they had on the crash site, and “foolishly took that as a precedent”.

He said the moment he realised he was doing something wrong “came too late” and just after the moment when he began crying, which was not picked up on poor quality replays of his report on the internet.

“At the weekend I got things wrong. If there was someone to apologise to in person, I would,” he wrote in his article.