Rocky Mountain News "tweets" dead boy's funeral, now (thankfully) being savaged

See that's just wrong. Now, if you happened to accidentally bump into him and knock the phone from his hand and your foot spasms and kicks it into the grave ... well, these things happen.

 

john temple is the editor, publisher and president of the rmn. I invite you all to drop him a line telling him how much you enjoy his paper's coverage.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/staff/john-temple/contact/

 

If I'm reading this right, are you arguing that the story wasn't even worth covering? I don't see how anyone in the news business could argue against it.

The story was newsworthy -- sad and tragic, but compelling. Covering the funeral was a natural follow-up to the story. It provides a little closure, if done right. (Clearly, the Twittering of a funeral is in a totally different realm.)

Funerals have always been covered -- read a paper from 20 years ago, 50 years ago or 80; you'll find a lot of the same coverage going on then, too. This isn't a sensationalistic decision that just started being made recently. "How has journalism lost its way?" Well, it's not from this type of stuff. It's definitely news -- that could have been handled 1,000 percent better, of course.

 

Maybe it's not play-by-play. Maybe you could write it as a real-time column, with heart and emotion and everything you'd put in a story, but in chopped up bits and thoughts instead of the flowing narrative that will show up in the next day's edition. Maybe there's some other form that would work.

I don't know. Maybe there is no way to do it at a funeral without coming across as totally classless. I've never tried and I don't plan on trying anytime soon. What if you had the family's blessing? Not that I can imagine a scenario when the family would trust you to do it, but what if they wanted to be very public for whatever reason and you presented them a plan that allowed you to help achieve that?

The way this was done by the RMN wasn't the right way, however. I think everyone agrees with that.

 

The Sports Guy arrives at a funeral ceremony near you!!

6:19:00 p.m. I take shit
6:19:30 p.m. Grunt a few more times
6:20:15 p.m. Big finishing push
6:20:30 p.m. Time for a post-deuce wank
6:20:35 p.m. No hands free to type
6:22:00 p.m. Mission accomplished
6:22:30 p.m. Roll off some TP
6:22:45 p.m. Reach deep

etc etc etc etc

 

This whole thing still just boggles my mind. How any of you can argue the dumbass "new media" side of it all is just beyond me. No wonder I fucking hate the media and I'm a fucking part of it.

 

Funny that PR now looks like a sane and practical alternative.

 

I'm offended by television cameras at a funeral. I can't even imagine Twittering there.

Like most of us, I'm not in a financial position to quit on the spot in protest of an assignment. I would, however, find a way to go to the funeral home and "not have a cell phone signal."

 

Re: Rocky Mountain News "tweets" dead boy's funeral, now (thankfully) being sava

At least when you do PR you know you're spewing BS for a living. This guy probably thinks he was doing a public service.

 

I just wonder who "the reader" is for that sort of stuff, and why he gets to have his own personal reporter. Oh wait, it's more than one person? Fine, then why are we providing real-time basic info for the 37 doofuses who won't turn on their radios or TVs? I can't imagine, in 100 years, wanting to read just basic stuff while a game is going on and I have other media available. And once the game is over, it's pretty much worthless. If it's edgy and opinionated, that reporter probably has lost some of his worth at truth-seeking. But just because we can, we do.

And for the claim made somewhere here that, shucks, we were just trying it out at the funeral and maybe it was a mistake and we'll learn better over time ... tell it to that family. It's not like they're going to bury their three-year-old a second time, just because you were screwing around with your learning curve.

 

Twitter is a fine tool we should all learn how to use.

This was a poor journalism choice. It's really that simple.

 

I really think that really sums it up with regard to a lot of New Media applications we are getting access to. They can be very helpful, and they can be used badly.

Just like a typewriter.