Presumption of innocence and journalistic ethics: the Aitana case

On 26 November 2009, a 3-year old girl, Aitana, died in Arona, Tenerife. The cause of her death according to the medical report pointed towards the existence of various polytraumas caused by physical abuse, together with vaginal and anal injuries. Diego Pastrana, the mother’s partner, was arrested. He told the Guardia Civil officers that the injuries were the result of an accident in a children’s playground a few days before. An official press release announced that he had been charged. Simultaneous trials — the real trial and the trial by media — began immediately. As Diego appeared in handcuffs, journalists en masse clamoured to deplore the events and condemn the accused. The public authorities of the Canary Islands added their own high-sounding declarations of disgust. Four days later, the autopsy ruled out the presumed and, as it turned out, erroneous cause of death. Diego, who suffers from depression, was admitted to hospital. He left the Canary Islands some days later. Some members of the media, the minority, put their own behaviour under the microscope; a few journalists apologised. That was about the extent of it. The law and journalistic ethics share the same view of how news coverage of this type of story should be approached. Nevertheless, the ease with which a reporter can distort reality is a serious cause for concern. This case-study of Spanish newspapers will thus enable us to identify potential and probable failures in news reporting from multiple perspectives: improper use of journalistic categories (news, opinion and interpretation), insufficient checking of news sources, imprecise style, tone and sensationalist headlines, flaws in structuring the message and inadequate used of images.