Full edition for scientific use. The research addresses the question how reporting of irrelevant information on a crisis victim’s bad character impacts on empathy towards the victim, the victim’s reputation as well as the reputation of the news medium that published the information. This was analyzed by means of a one-factorial experiment with manipulating the reporting on the crisis victim’s character plus a control condition. Respondents (registered members of an online panel) were 245 consumers from the United Kingdom.