We’re sure that journalist Mark White regretted this immediately.
Everybody says stupid things from time to time, and it’s tough covering breaking news on a major tragedy, but journalist Mark White will likely wish he hadn’t made this comment to a 12-year-old schoolboy live on Sky News on Wednesday morning.
White was interviewing the boy and his grandmother, who had both escaped the inferno in the Grenfell Tower block, before remarking: “So no school for you today then.”
Awkward laughter could then be heard (though from the clip below it’s not clear who was laughing), before White added, “Well, it has a plus side I guess.”
https://twitter.com/Geordie_Paul_UK/status/874866701887836160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnewswire.storyful.com%2Fstorylines%2F*%2Fstories%2F170003%3Freferred_from%3DTrends%26channel_id%3D203%26context%3Dchannel%26referrer_type%3DChannel%26referrer_id%3D203
Several people criticised White’s comment, although others suggested that he was simply trying to lessen the impact of the tragedy on the young boy.
https://twitter.com/TottenhamStevie/status/874856723177230336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnewswire.storyful.com%2Fstorylines%2F*%2Fstories%2F170003%3Freferred_from%3DTrends%26channel_id%3D203%26context%3Dchannel%26referrer_type%3DChannel%26referrer_id%3D203
https://twitter.com/iNdepthPhoto/status/874861057130541056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnewswire.storyful.com%2Fstorylines%2F*%2Fstories%2F170003%3Freferred_from%3DTrends%26channel_id%3D203%26context%3Dchannel%26referrer_type%3DChannel%26referrer_id%3D203
Idiot reporter on Sky News interviewing kid displaced from #LondonFire says "Well the good thing is you won't be going to school today" WTF
— McWoke 🇺🇦☮️ (@mickd415) June 14, 2017
Others were more sympathetic.
https://twitter.com/running_good/status/874872041014513664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnewswire.storyful.com%2Fstorylines%2F*%2Fstories%2F170003%3Freferred_from%3DTrends%26channel_id%3D203%26context%3Dchannel%26referrer_type%3DChannel%26referrer_id%3D203
