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14th Jun 2017

VIDEO: Sky News reporter makes an insensitive comment live on air after Grenfell Tower fire

Tony Cuddihy

We’re sure that journalist Mark White regretted this immediately.

Everybody says stupid things from time to time, and it can be tough to cover breaking news on a major tragedy, but journalist Mark White will 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 tower block, before remarking: “So no school for you today then.”

Awkward laughter could then be heard (though 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 pointed out 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

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

https://twitter.com/HuntyUK/status/874910198984564737?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

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