US news outlet TMZ criticised for image said to be of late One Direction singer Liam Payne

NEW YORK - TMZ, the Hollywood-obsessed news outlet known for its coverage of celebrities, drew a flood of criticism for publishing an image purporting to show the body of British singer Liam Payne, formerly of boy band One Direction, who died in a fatal fall on Oct 16. The site later removed the image.

“TMZ is trying to get clicks and ad money off of a young man’s dead body just minutes after the news of his death,” Mr Shayan Sardarizadeh, a journalist at the BBC, wrote in a post on the social platform X. “Imagine being a member of Liam Payne’s family and seeing this.”

The site initially published a cropped image of a body lying on a wooden deck, saying that it was at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where

Payne died at age 31.

TMZ said it had identified him from his distinctive tattoos.

“We’re not showing the whole body, but you can clearly see his tattoos – a clock on his left forearm, and a scorpion on his abdomen,” text accompanying the photo said, according to screenshots of the article circulating online.

In addition to removing the photograph, TMZ also edited the text to remove any reference to showing part of Payne’s body. Editors did not post a note explaining their decision to amend the story.

A spokesperson for TMZ did not respond to an email and call seeking comment.

There are circumstances in which publishing images of dead bodies is journalistically defensible, said Ms Kelly McBride, chair of the Craig Newmark Centre for Ethics and Leadership at the Poynter Institute. But such cases are those where the photos call attention to an important story that has a strong public interest element, such as harrowing conditions for migrant children.

In those cases, news outlets should be able to explain the decision to take the extraordinary step of publishing sensitive images, she said.

“When you don’t have a journalistic purpose, and you find yourself on the receiving end of criticism from your audience, you often are defensive and you have to walk your decisions back,” Ms McBride said.

Mr Sean Elliot, the ethics committee chair for the National Press Photographers Association, said that photo editors should apply reasonable editorial judgment to difficult publishing decisions.

“Is this person famous enough, and is their death significant enough that it’s a cultural touchstone?” he said. “That’s a judgment that only TMZ can make for itself.” NYTIMES