| Alison Parker and Adam Ward, Source |
This morning, Alison Parker and Adam Ward, two reporters for WDBJ 7 in Virgina were murdered during a live broadcast. My heart goes out to their families and friends. It’s always incredibly difficult to lose someone close to you, and I imagine that pain is multiplied when it is so violent and meaningless.
As journalists, we sometimes are taking major risks in publishing stories. We don’t know what people will think, we don’t know who we might hurt, and we don’t know who might come after us. We’re taking a risk by being in this profession. Journalism is vital to democracy, and this sort of violence against journalists erodes the freedom of the press to publish the truth.
I have no idea why the shooter did what they did. I will probably never know exactly why, and people will probably interpret it differently depending upon their race – if they’re white, they’re mentally ill, if they’re African American, they’re a thug, and if they’re Arab-American, they’re a terrorist. That kind of race-dependent interpretation is wrong, but it seems overwhelmingly likely that the conversation will be dictated by it.
As I write this, police are chasing the shooter down a freeway. Hopefully they will catch them, and bring justice to the victims families.
Because this murder took place while they were on camera, there is video footage. Some people have shared that video footage online. In journalism classes, there’s often a discussion of graphic violence. It’s generally considered unethical to show photos of maimed bodies, or dead bodies. Personally, I would ask myself “is this a photo I would feel okay letting an eight-year-old see?” before posting anything questionable online. Some have posted the video to twitter, where it can autoplay in unsuspecting user’s twitter feeds. As a journalist, this is something I would never do. It can be okay to make sensitive material available to viewers who want to see that, but it’s vital to give people warning beforehand. Please consider that, prior to sharing photos and videos that are violent. Tell the truth, and uphold ethical standards.