Vancouver journalist Laura Lynch spent the morning of Christmas Eve fielding messages from friends who had seen articles featuring her photo, name, and the announcement that she had died in Texas on Friday.
In fact, the CBC journalist shares her name with the founding member of U.S. country band The Chicks, formerly called the Dixie Chicks, whose tragic death in a car crash at age 65 was reported widely this weekend.
But some coverage, including networks like Fox News and online news site The Daily Beast, used photos of Lynch, the CBC journalist and host of climate change solutions show What On Earth, instead. One person on X, formerly known as Twitter, even eulogized the journalist, prompting a correction from Lynch.
“The main reaction I’m having to it is how it could be seen as disrespectful to her family,” Lynch told CBC. “This just has the potential to compound their grief, so I feel terribly about that.”
According to a CBC spokesperson, the company realized the journalist’s image was being used early Sunday morning and has been asking publications to remove the image and issue corrections.
“We also reached out to image licensing sites to ask that photo descriptions of Laura on their platforms clearly identify her as a Canadian journalist,” the spokesperson said in an email. “A number of outlets have since removed her images from their stories.”
The main photo being shared is one of Lynch, the journalist, attending a 2019 media gala in California. This was originally available for purchase on a stock photo site, Getty Images, without a disclosure in the caption about what Lynch does or where she works. The site has since added the word “journalist” to its caption of her image.
“People are rushing to get things done but we’re still supposed to check the facts,” Lynch said. “Photos are powerful.”
Laura Lynch, the musician who co-founded the popular country band in 1989, died in a head-on vehicle collision on a highway outside of El Paso on Friday, the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement.
Lynch left the band in 1995. A statement from The Chicks after her sudden death called Lynch a “bright light” who was “instrumental” to the group’s early success.
1/2 Laura was a bright light…her infectious energy and humor gave a spark to the early days of our band. Laura had a gift for design, a love of all things Texas and was instrumental in the early success of the band. <a href=”https://t.co/Q2WsqF5miM”>pic.twitter.com/Q2WsqF5miM</a>
—@thechicks