Picture of Liam Payne published within hours of fatal fall

It took 87 minutes for the US news site TMZ to obtain and publish a picture of Liam Payne’s body after he was declared dead in Argentina on Wednesday. TMZ later removed the photo, which appeared without a content warning, wasn’t signalled in the headline, and has since been widely shared on X. A code of ethics published by the National Press Photographers Association, based in the US, says that visual journalists should treat all subjects with “respect and dignity” and have special compassion for “victims of tragedy”. TMZ had little for the former One Direction singer, who first auditioned for The X Factor at 14, became one of the world’s biggest popstars after a second audition at 16, and openly discussed his struggles with fame. That fame has deprived him of dignity even in death. He leaves behind a seven-year-old son.

TMZ, which shared cropped pictures of Payne’s body, is an extreme case. But it’s not the only newsroom that traded on unknowns around the circumstances that led to the death of the star, who fell from the balcony of his hotel room.

UK publications have capitalised on the speed with which the Argentinian press got hold of new details, including

• transcripts of emergency calls made in the run up to Payne’s death, which were obtained by CNN’s Argentine affiliate and led the BBC News website on Thursday;
• preliminary results from Payne’s autopsy, which were published by a local outlet and later reported by regional UK sites including Plymouth Live and Wales Online;
• a picture allegedly taken of Payne minutes before his death, aired by the Argentine news network América TV and later published by MailOnline as his “final” photo; and
• pictures allegedly from Payne’s hotel room, published by La Nación and Clarín, and shared in the UK press.

The fact these pictures were circulating on X almost immediately after Payne’s death speaks to the role social media plays as an organic, and largely untrammelled, breaking news outlet.

Thirty-nine minutes after Payne was declared dead (and a full 48 before TMZ published its article) an X user posted that he had “jumped off his balcony”, citing a friend who was allegedly staying in his hotel. As of Thursday afternoon the post had been viewed over 20 million times.

Maya Henry, Payne’s former fiancée, reportedly found out he was dead when a journalist contacted her team.