Will lessons be learned from Caroline Flack’s death?

I've been watching your every move as the tributes to Caroline Flack come in. There is anger that the former Love Island presenter has become the third

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linked to the ITV show in the last 20 months, but her friend and fellow presenter said today that the show is not the problem, it is the trolls and the tabloids. She loved to laugh and had the most contagious laugh. She also had many struggles. I'm not going to pretend she was perfect, but like anyone, she lived through every mistake publicly under media scrutiny. press the newspapers that create clickbait that demonize and tear down success we have had enough Caroline Flack had been forced to resign from presenting Love Island as she was due to stand trial in the high-profile domestic violence case to which she had pleaded not guilty . to a charge of assault, although her boyfriend did not support the charge on Friday, Miss Flack discovered the court case would continue anyway today her officers appeared to blame the CPS for her

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, the Crown Prosecution Service should look into itself today and how he carried out a sham trial that was not only without merit but was not in the public interest and ultimately resulted in significant distress for Caroline. process I don't know what the evidence is, but I assume it was 909 calls, it was a body camera worn by the police, there would have been medical evidence, if there was evidence from the police officers who attended the scene, potentially an interview as well. others have been pointing the finger at ITV this from the Sun's executive editor Caroline was dumped by ITV, she was distraught, they didn't support her and she was distraught at the lack of support she received and yet social media users point out The newspaper Sun was leading salacious coverage of his case.

This is a mild example. We have chosen not to show the most egregious pages. At least one story has since been deleted online, but even some of ITV's own presenters are now questioning the future of Love Island Eamonn Holmes called for repercussions out of respect, honey Lancaster James worked as a psychologist on one of the first series of Love Island, although I didn't know Caroline Flack personally, it's often very difficult for people who are public figures to express how difficult they find it. It's because they find that they then get a backlash that says, well, what do you have to complain about?

Or you put yourself in this realm as if the fact that you work in entertainment somehow means you take the gloves off. ITV has said it is shocked and saddened. This desperately sad news is not the first time a broadcaster has been plagued with questions about liability in the midst of a tragic death reported by mum Angie and if you have been affected by the issues raised in that story, support is available, go to channel 4 comm slash support, well I'm joined now by Natasha Devyn, author and mental health activist. Thank you very much for coming. I mean, first and foremost, this is a huge tragedy for the family and friends of the Caroline Flax family and all the people who loved her, yes, and to be clear.

I didn't know Caroline personally. I don't know the specific circumstances that led to her death and it is probably disturbing and even harmful for people who knew her to speculate, but we do know that suicide is a symptom and occurs when grief exceeds. resources to cope with pain and in approximately 90% of cases it occurs as a result of untreated depression or addiction. Having said all that, I think with Caroline's case specifically there is a real opportunity here to learn something about the world that we live in and I think it's interesting the way that people have been passing the blame, the blame has been apportioned. between all sides, when in reality that blame should be shared and we should all think about what we can do to change the environment.

I'm talking about her friend Laura Whitmore today. In a really powerful radio piece she talked about the intense scrutiny Caroline Flack had faced from the press and social media, and that's a lot of pressure for a young woman who was clearly struggling. I want to be clear, I think gender doesn't matter. of the person, if someone has suffered domestic abuse, they should be supported and it is ridiculous to suggest that in a domestic abuse case where their substantial evidence should be dismissed because the victim no longer wants to give evidence because that rewards coercive behaviour, but other than that, there was this ongoing show trial and the way the tabloids and social media sensationalized it and turned it into a circus was absolutely disgusting and to see some of the perpetrators of that today expressing their sadness is a real hypocrisy.

I mean, the press, of course, is supposed to be regulated. and there are many people who

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have seen the coverage that Caroline Flack and Phil faced, it's that regulation is not working, but what do you do with social media? Because it's a free game for all. People feel like they can say whatever they want. Well, I think we have a number of professional trolls on social media who are really setting the tone and you see them, I'm not going to say their names, but we all know who they are who are talking today about how tragic they find Caroline. loosens the deaths, but at the same time intimidates people like Jameela Jamil Megan Markel Katie Price, people who we know are going through an emotionally and mentally turbulent time, we need to deprive them of oxygen, we live in an attention economy where our rapids and our Engagement are the new currency we need to stop following and interacting with those people.

It's not for the social media companies, it's for us individually, the social media companies have a responsibility to do this, but increasingly the tone of the media and social networks establish what we interact with and therefore we, as individuals, must take responsibility. I mean Caroline, in what is now a particularly poignant Instagram post, wrote: be nice to people, you never know what's going on. I guess you'd say that's good advice. I think it was really moving. when he posted in a world where you can be anything, be kind and of course it was very successful as we heard the psychologist say in the article that that can make people feel less sympathy for you, think you are fair game and have mental health problems.

They are equal opportunities, they affect people from all walks of life, you never know someone's pain and anguish behind closed doors, so we should always try to treat people with kindness and Evon attested to that in those grades. Thank you very much for coming, thank you.