The Ontario Press Council has decided that the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail did not overstep the boundaries of journalistic ethics by publishing parts of a distress call made by a dying police officer in June 2011. York Region Police Chief Eric Jolliffe filed a complaint with the press council regarding articles covering the death of Const. Garrett Styles.
Jolliffe described the publication of Styles’ last words as “an appalling breach of ethics and trust that could have jeopardized the investigation into the death.”
However, the council’s executive director Don McCurdy defended the papers’ decision to publish the materials, arguing that the coverage served to highlight the courage and concern Const. Styles exhibited on the day of his death.
