A former reporter wants to end traumatizing coverage for survivors and journalists alike

[Mr. X]

The Intermediary - Columbia Journalism Review (cjr.org)

 

[Azrael]

Been at this a long time and completely agree.

 

[wicked]

She recalls coaxing a woman who'd survived a homicide attempt into an on-camera interview, and the guilt she felt; locating a man at a bar in order to ask him questions about his wife, who had been murdered just hours earlier; and breaking the news of a sibling's violent death to a man whom she'd reached on his office phone. "People are laughing, talking about whatever stories they're working on," she says, describing the latter episode. "And there I am, at my desk, talking on my landline to someone who's just found out that his sister's been murdered. I felt like such ship." When she decided to end her fifteen-year reporting career in 2019, she says, "I had to work through a lot of the guilt I felt when I thought about how much harm I had done."

Then why did you do it?

It seems like the issue is more about some reporters' aggressive tactics. Some level of empathy is required when covering cops and crime. IMO there are certain things you just don't do — like call a sibling who didn't know about his sister's killing and ask about his sister's killing.

 

[sgreenwell]

Then why did you do it?

It seems like the issue is more about some reporters' aggressive tactics. Some level of empathy is required when covering cops and crime. IMO there are certain things you just don't do — like call a sibling who didn't know about his sister's killing and ask about his sister's killing.

Their newsroom also doesn't exactly sound great. Yeah, there is gallows humor in this industry, but at the shops I was working at typically the room would be appropriately quiet if you knew someone was making a tough phone call.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Then why did you do it?

It seems like the issue is more about some reporters' aggressive tactics. Some level of empathy is required when covering cops and crime. IMO there are certain things you just don't do — like call a sibling who didn't know about his sister's killing and ask about his sister's killing.

It's not that simple.

You don't know that the sibling doesn't know about his sister's killing until you call and find out the hard way.

 

[wicked]

It's not that simple.

You don't know that the sibling doesn't know about his sister's killing until you call and find out the hard way.

In my day, they told me to only reach out to survivors after the cops made the announcement or someone you darn well knew you could trust told you they'd been notified.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

In my day, they told me to only reach out to survivors after the cops made the announcement or someone you darn well knew you could trust told you they'd been notified.

Right, but police making the announcement means they've probably notified either a spouse or a parent. Outside of that, you have no idea.

 

[Batman]

Their newsroom also doesn't exactly sound great. Yeah, there is gallows humor in this industry, but at the shops I was working at typically the room would be appropriately quiet if you knew someone was making a tough phone call.

The reporter also could have found a guaranteed quiet spot — a conference room, a different part of the building; hell, go outside or to the car — to make the call.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Not the point of the story, obviously, but I have a question: Why does the CJR spell out some numbers 10 and higher in this piece?

 

[SixToe]

The job ain't for everyone. Covering terrible news sucks sometimes and isn't easy.

In a noisy newsroom, find a quiet place and make that call.

Not the point of the story, obviously, but I have a question: Why does the CJR spell out some numbers 10 and higher in this piece?

The New Yorker spells out numbers and it drives me bananas.

 

[dixiehack]

The reporter also could have found a guaranteed quiet spot — a conference room, a different part of the building; hell, go outside or to the car — to make the call.

I took it to be less about the ambient noise for a given phone call and more about the contrast between what her colleagues were covering versus the gravity of what she was ashigned to write.

 

[Azrael]

Maybe the better question to ask is why we're making that call in the first place.