This is one of those stories that every journalist - especially editors and reporters - should read.

It is written by Chris Wheal, an award-winning freelance who works for various business magazines, blogs for AOL's DailyFinance website and also trains journalists.

I want to make it crystal clear that he is no ingenue. He is an experienced journalist with a lengthy track record. He knows of what he speaks. That context is important in the light of what follows.

Eight days ago Wheal's nine-year-old nephew Jamie Bray died in a tragic accident by breaking his neck after getting entangled in a rope swing in his garden.

Aware that there would be press interest, Wheal offered to deal with reporters on behalf of his sister and her husband. At first they didn't think it would be necessary because they wanted nothing to do with the media.

But the media had other ideas. As Wheal writes: "Being a journalist on the receiving end of journalism is an eye-opener."

The first journalists turned up on the doorstep (up a private road) the day after Jamie's death. Then there was a call from someone claiming to be from Love It! magazine offering cash. Other fresh-faced reporters knocked on the door, prompting Wheal to wonder why only the most junior hacks have to do the death knock.

So the family realised they needed Wheal to deal with the situation after all. He takes up the story...

I drafted a statement. I had to convince my sister to include details as I knew that was what the press would want. I made a comment – an uncle is a close enough relative. And we asked a professional photographer who had a great photo of Jamie for permission to use the pic in the papers. Hampshire police could not issue the statement in full. The details of the accident came from the pathologist. The police can only issue details released by the coroner, who had not yet ruled. This meant the accident was open to misinterpretation. We could not state that it was a rope swing, for example. I asked that my details be included in the edited statement and that the press contact me. The phone did not stop ringing.

Over the next few days Wheal spoke to all the local papers and the Press Association's southern office. He emailed Meridian TV and did four local radio interviews. He also contacted the Southern Daily Echo reporter, Julian Robinson, who had broken the story using Facebook comments from his sister.

The Echo story was syndicated. The Daily Telegraph ran it virtually word for word but inserted in the intro a speculative figure for the supposed worth of his sister's house (£800,000).

Wheal notes the reasoning behind the apparent irrelevance of including the value of a house: "For rich parents this is a tragic accident. For poor parents, no doubt, it would have been negligence." He continues:

The BBC website used the police-issued information without calling, so missed out on the extra detail I could have given to clarify the story. The Sunday Times, Mail and others pieced together the issued statement from PA copy and excerpts from the syndicated local paper stories... Not a single national news organisation rang me. I am guessing most did not contact Hampshire police, so would not have got my statement with my contact details. They relied on PA and cuttings. It was classic "churnalism".

But he adds: "Not all the local papers can be proud. After getting my statement issued though the police and having seen rival papers out-scoop and take a more news-focused attitude... The News in Portsmouth sent a reporter to doorstep my sister. He was met with a torrent of abuse."

A day later The News apologised. The paper accepted it was an error of judgment by the news editor to send a reporter rather than to phone. Then came a call to Wheal's sister from the SWNS news agency in which the reporter offered her money for the story.

Wheal writes: "There is just no way they would accept money and you have to admit it is sick of the agency to even offer."

Now, planning ahead with next Monday's funeral in mind, Wheal is compiling tributes to Jamie from friends and family and gathering more pictures. He writes:

I am trying to give the press what they want without it impacting on my sister and the rest of our family. My big concern now is a media scrum at the funeral. Even one snapper trying to get shots of the grieving parents etc will be too much. I will have my sister's eulogy to Jamie available to the press. I can even report details of the service. I hope in exchange they will leave us alone.

He concludes with a heartfelt plea:

My sister is not me. She is an inherently private person, as is her husband. They have never courted publicity. They have never sought to be in the press. They are not celebrities. I ask the press of consider that and leave them alone.

Source: Chris Wheal