Balancing the grief of families with public’s right to know
The concept of keeping secret the names of people who have died does not make sense in this modern world of transparency and rapid dissemination of information.
Yet the B.C. Coroners Service, as reported this week by CFJC Today, is reviewing its policy on releasing names of the dead, and the result might be that it’s tougher to find out the identities of those who have died in events that are themselves well-known to the public.
In times past, the Coroners’ Service has been a convenient and proper source for such information. There was a natural sequence to the communications flow — police would release to the public, via the media, information on such things as fatal accidents or homicide investigations.
That would be followed a couple of days later by the Coroners Service releasing the name of the victim. The slight gap in between allowed for notification of next of kin, which is a reasonable restriction to spare families the shock of learning of the death of a loved one in the media.