After two days of conflicting reports, Time Out New York falling over itself to proclaim the actress dead, then brain dead, neither case properly verified, and general anxiety over her condition, Natasha Richardson has finally succumbed to the injuries she sustained during a tragic ski accident in Montreal Monday. She was 45 years old.
From the AP:
Alan Nierob, the Los Angeles-based publicist for Richardson’s husband Liam Neeson, confirmed her death in a written statement.
“Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha,” the statement said. “They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time.”
Of course, the story behind the story continues to grow: media missteps in reporting. Patrick Goldstein, in a piece titled “Natasha Richardson’s media ghouls get their comeuppance,” let the readers of Time Out New York do the talking for him, specifically citing an comment from a reader calling himself (or herself) “Ghost of Edward Murrow,” who had the following to say:
Time Out’s credibility was declared brain dead today. The site suffered a horrific fall when rushing to get the scoop on the personal tragedy of a fine actress and her family, and according to anyone with a clue, will not recover.
Anne Thompson, meanwhile, showed considerable irritation over the LA Times’ lack of web swiftness when she couldn’t find a link to John Horn’s obituary:
A.P. knows how to handle stories like this. The LAT sent me a news alert. I followed the link which led me to the front page of the LAT and a breaking news banner: “A spokesman for Natasha Richardson’s family says she has died,” with no live links to any story, old or new. I did a search on the site for Natasha Richardson and got nothing at all on her accident. That is inexcusable. Their job is to service their readers with online breaking news.
Frustrated, I googled “Natasha Richardson dead” and got what looked like A.P.’s old story but when I clicked on it, got the updated one. They were ready to go with the new news as soon as it arrived.
She is, however, linking to the CBC story, not the AP story, but the lesson is writ large regardless: get the news in order, especially on something like this. The culture of now, now, now (which I’ve already written about in other terms this week) will certainly be the death of journalistic credibility if behavior like this continues to rule the trade.
Shocking that in all of this, TMZ seemed to have more accurate information throughout.
But the news is the news, and a gifted actress has left us and a beautiful family behind. My heart goes out to Richardson’s husband, Liam Neeson, her two young sons and her mother, Vanessa Redgrave. Awful and unspeakable.
Comments
7 responses to “R.I.P. Natasha Richardson”
I have always admired the work of Miss Richardson as well as the rest of her family, she will be sorely missed. R.I.P.
Away from the whole journalistic kerfuffle over the story, this is just too sad.
Richardson never received her due in Hollywood. She was so terrific in a pair of sensual, complicated performances in “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Comfort of Strangers” in 1990 — the world really seemed to be hers then.
Condolences to all involved. What is there to say?
I’m a devoted theatergoer and I had the good fortune of seeing Richardson on stage in Anna Christie, twice in Cabaret and Closer, and in A Streetcar Named Desire. She possessed all the extraordinary talent of her family and was radiantly beautiful on stage. This is terribly sad.
As far as the media goes, they just proved how inept they are in their mostly insensitive coverage of this tragedy.
Had the chance to meet her once — wonderful lady, so gracious and full of life — beautiful smile — had the ability to put the room at ease — what a terrible loss, say a prayer for her family because right now that is all that matters, her sons have lost their mother, her husband his wife.
She exuded class and dignity, which makes all of this more tragic. All the best to her family.
May she rest in peace. Condolences to her family.
This is really terrible. From the reports it sounds like an accident/incident that happens every day on ski slopes around the world. It shouldn’t have an ending like this. I can’t imagine what pain the family goes through.