Churnalism – the case of Mr Farbrother

Should news articles based solely upon a police press release be identified as such?

I think they should – anything that purports to be high quality public interest journalism, but is in fact low quality churnalism, should be labelled as such.

Churnalism is, to put it bluntly, the copy and pasting of press releases, perhaps with a few tweaks here and there. Think 15-year-old student handing in an essay sourced solely from a Wikipedia page.

It’s a win for the police – they get “to place ‘good news’ stories in the media“; it’s a win for the media outlet – they don’t need to send a costly reporter to court; but it’s a loss for the public – deprived of having their public watchdog perform its vital role in society.

Here is a classic example. This is Stefan Farbrother, 47, of Stanningley Road, Halifax.

By all accounts a nasty man – he has just been convicted of a string of offences, including multiple rapes, over a period spanning five years.

He also has the misfortune of having a very striking face.

Kent Police issued a press release. We have a photo attached, and a nice quote from the sergeant.

It is not explained why someone who was arrested in June 2018 did not face trial until October 2023.

I’ve highlighted some of the outlets that have churned out this story below – but special mention must go to KentOnline – who did send a reporter to the trial, and who did send a reporter to the verdict.

This lot didn’t:

The BBC: