Multiple media outlets are reporting that 26 people, including 18 children, were killed this morning at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. As the news continues to unfold, I look at how the media is handling the breaking news coverage of this atrocity.
There are hardly any words to describe such a horrible event, yet media outlets must balance sensitivity with reporting the facts in a timely manner.
What with the recent New York Post front page photo of a man's imminent death on the subway track, a shooting in a mall in Oregon on Tuesday and now this, the media has had to dig deep into the world of ethical reporting. What does it mean to present the news, while still being empathetic to our sources? How do we step away from sensationalizing tragic events and keep our viewers informed and up-to-date?
These are age-old questions in journalism. This is how our major news outlets are handling them today:
The New York Times article is well-reported in my opinion, using information from other news reports as well as original reporting material from the nearby hospital where victims from the shooting have been admitted. Except that they begin the article with a recycled quote from a 9-year-old witness from an NBC interview, this article was well-reported. They use the words "shooting" and "mass shooting" to describe the event.
NYT also is updating their blog in real-time with photos, video and a timeline of events with reporting from different news organizations.
Fox News interviews the Mayor of the nearby city of Danbury. The reporters are asking the hard questions, while still being sensitive to the Mayor's inability to release certain information. The accompanying b-roll of worried parents and the cordoned-off school area shows the urgency and tension of the scene. For the web posting, Fox News uses information from a press conference with a state police officer and interviewed the parent of one of the schoolchildren. They are the only news organization I looked at that used the word "massacre" as well as "shooting" in their post. Overall, however, they handled the reporting pretty well for once.
AP News posted this story calling the shooting "the nation's second-deadliest school shooting" in comparison to the Virginia Tech Massacre in 2007. AP spoke with the father of a student who was in the classroom where the gunfire began - and other parents of schoolchildren - about the children's experiences. They did a great job getting information without pressing the schoolchildren for interviews.
AP also followed up with "Some of the Deadliest Mass Shootings Around the World" dating back to 1966. The first three mentions of 24 were in 2012. How did they decide which shootings from around the world were the "deadliest?" And is it too soon to be posting a "news round-up" article so close to this shooting?
NBC News is interviewing students - all minors clinging to their parents' legs - who witnessed the shooting. NBC is also speaking to correspondents on the scene and in the studio. Their word choice isn't sensational - they're using "shooting" also - but their source choice is very questionable.
Reporting breaking news through social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook is also still controversial and ethically muddy, and is a whole other can of worms I don't necessarily want to open. But here's today's screw-up: Slate incorrectly linked their twitter feed to a Facebook profile of someone with the same name as the identified shooter.
I applaud the news organizations that refrained from speaking directly with the children at the school this morning, and instead chose to speak with their parents. Even with parental consent, I believe it is irresponsible to speak with a minor on-air as a source witness, especially one who has just been through a horrific event. I am also upset with those news organizations that did not directly speak to the children, but still used their quotes and information as reported by the news outlets that did the original reporting.
I mentioned only a few of the multitude of news outlets covering this story. Below are more links.