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

Wow...I'll bet if you think about it, that isn't the case. There has been worse.

 

I've been back and forth if I felt worse the day the Blair expose came out in the NYT or today.

I think this is just a classic example of why we're hated and why newspapers are dying. Because some editor and some writer thought it would be a good idea to give a play-by-play from a kid's funeral.

Maybe I'm looking at it too much as a parent, I don't know...

 

If it's a public place, open to all people, and there aren't people keeping other people out, and it's outdoors, it's fair game.

Again, that doesn't for a second imply supporting what happened here. Simply from a legal standpoint, this is my understanding.

 

the entire part.
are you a parent?

 

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

This is just unbelievable.

 

Only one person bit -- thoughtfully -- on how this is different than writing a story about the whole thing that describes the exact same things, and they did so in PM.

 

sf, to me it's just that the pbp reads so ... smug? not sure if that's the word. but it just feels as if it makes the event so trivial -- and I don't really see the value. as I said, the actual story that ran was fantastic and choked me up a bit. that's what you're supposed to write. the family will treasure that well-written story, I think, and the readership will get value from reading it. not so with the pbp. just seems to be a lack of respect to it all.

 

That seems to be the prevailing sentiment.

 

At least once a day on this site I come across a word I didn't previously know. I consider that a good thing, as I feel a person is never too old to learn. However, I'm at a loss for words to express that today's word was "tweet." If that thing on page one of this thread is an example of the word, I wish I had never learned its meaning.

 

I think dixiehack covered it pretty well for me. There's a big difference between being an observer, maybe respectfully doing some brief interviews of people at the funeral and typing into your Blackberry during the funeral/burial. It's disrespectful and wrong. Would you want someone doing this during your child's/parent's/friend's funeral? I sure as hell wouldn't.

I also just don't see the value of it to the reader. The "tweets" are pretty much what happens at every funeral. Where's the value or insight there?

Edit: looks like jps beat me to my last point.

 

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

The whole thing actually reminds me of a radio broadcast where the station goes to the reporter every so often for an update. There, there would be a voice, and likely emotional context. You can't get much of that at 140 words at a time, unless you're Lincoln. Would we, should we, be bent out of shape if this was a series of radio reports?

 

I wonder if the writer did it that way as a sort of protest to the assignment.

Though, more likely, it's someone doing exactly what he was told, which is bad enough most of the time.