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

[Jersey_Guy]

... and somewhere in Florida Jessica DaSilva will insist we just don't get it.

Elsewhere, of course, those who understand what journalism is let the horror speak for itself. From The Colorado Independent:

We can’t say much beyond reprinting Berny’s own words, as published on the Website of the Rocky Mountain News, while providing live coverage of Kudlis’ funeral. The little boy was killed last Thursday when Francis Hernandez, an illegal immigrant, crashed into a Baskin Robbins store in Aurora where the boy was waiting to get ice cream:

RMN_Berny: family members shovel earth into grave
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 11:40 a.m.
RMN_Berny: rabbi calls end to ceremony
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 11:28 a.m.
RMN_Berny: rabbi chanting final prayer in hebrew
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 11:27 a.m.
RMN_Berny: earth being placed on coffin.
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 11:22 a.m.
RMN_Berny: rabbi recites the main hebrew prayer of death
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 11:20 a.m.
RMN_Berny: rabbi zucker praying
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 11:18 a.m.
RMN_Berny: coffin lowered into ground
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 11:18 a.m.
RMN_Berny: people gathering at graveside
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 11:14 a.m.
RMN_Berny: procession begins
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 11:01 a.m.
RMN_Berny: cars queueing up to follow hearse
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 10:59 a.m.
RMN_Berny: pallbearers carry out coffin followed by mourners.
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 10:48 a.m.
RMN_Berny: people again are sobbing. rabbi again asks god to give
marten everlasting life.
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 10:46 a.m.
RMN_Berny: video shows marten blowing out candles on birthday cake,
marten with dog. last images are of headlines.
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 10:44 a.m.
RMN_Berny: video of marten is projected on screen.
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 10:32 a.m.
RMN_Berny: rabbi says marten is close to god now.
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 10:31 a.m.
RMN_Berny: rabbi says marten loved to be tickled. calls the death a
nightmare. no words can sooth us, he says.
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 10:28 a.m.
RMN_Berny: family member says marten is with grandmother who died
last year. ‘ marten we loved you,’ he says. People sobbing.
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 10:22 a.m.
RMN_Berny: family member remembers marten.
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 10:20 a.m.
RMN_Berny: rabbi says we will always remember marten and he will live
in our memory.
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 10:18 a.m.
RMN_Berny: rabbi recites 23rd psalm.
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 10:16 a.m.

There are few things, incidentally, as dumb as grown men and women who claim to be professionals using the term tweeting.

Full link:

http://www.coloradoindependent.com/7717/rmn-tweets-the-funeral-of-3-year-old-boy/

[slappy4428]

Wow... just wow...

[king cranium maximus IV]

Wave of the FUTURE! Wave of the FUTURE! Wave of the FUTURE!

[SixToe]

Abominable.

[Mizzougrad96]

Jobs should be lost immediately.

[Ace]

I have just one question: How many hits did they get?

[Mizzougrad96]

I have just one question: How many hits did they get?

Probably a zillion. Who cares? Fire everybody involved with this.

[Ace]

I have just one question: How many hits did they get?

Probably a zillion. Who cares? Fire everybody involved with this.

It's the future. Get on board.

[Diabeetus]

Shameful. Absolutely shameful.

[Mizzougrad96]

I'm just in shock.

[Ace]

Seriously, I think some of our online friends get carried away with the idea that they CAN do something. The idea of whether they SHOULD do it or if it provides any meaningful information to anyone doesn't register.

Taste issues aside, this sounds like any other funeral. Big deal.

I do think this kind of "reporting" can be very useful in the right circumstances, though.

[Stitch]

Some guy at my paper thinks Facebook and Twitter are the future. Of course he is in ad sales and doesn't understand that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

ACE - you beat my last point that I made by a second, darn you.

[steveu]

RMN meant well, but it's a funeral. A goddamn funeral. Have some decency, for Christ's sake. There are just some things you don't tweet.

[zebracoy]

I've never heard of Twitter.

That being said, I did get a morbid rise out of this one comment left on the CI link:

sorry your child is dead kthxbye

[Mizzougrad96]

Some guy at my paper thinks Facebook and Twitter are the future. Of course he is in ad sales and doesn't understand that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

ACE - you beat my last point that I made by a second, darn you.

Facebook is the future. I have no idea what twitter is.

You don't do play-by-play from a funeral of a little kid. If you want to do a blog from it to let people know the mood or something like that, fine, but you don't treat a funeral like it's the third quarter of a Broncos game.

Fucking disgraceful.

[2muchcoffeeman]

Twitter must die. That is all.

Stupidest. Idea. Ever.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

[Dyno]

How disrespectful.  Did the "reporter" ask the family's permission first?  At my dad's funeral a few months back, a reporter from the local weekly came to the funeral home.  She spoke to the funeral director first, and the funeral director asked us if it was OK if the reporter was there.  She was very respectful and unobtrusive.  I sat with her for a few minutes after the service to do a quick fact check.  The resulting story was a really great recap of the funeral and my dad's life.  I doubt very much that would have been the result if she had live blogged the ceremony.

[Mizzougrad96]

A blog can be done respectfully, even from a funeral.

This is play-by-play. If I was one of the parents of that kid, I would be looking for that reporter with a gun.

Anything short of mass firings will be grossly unacceptable.

[Ace]

A blog can be done respectfully, even from a funeral.

This is play-by-play. If I was one of the parents of that kid, I would be looking for that reporter with a gun.

Anything short of mass firings will be grossly unacceptable.

But a vengeance killing would be OK.

[Mizzougrad96]

A blog can be done respectfully, even from a funeral.

This is play-by-play. If I was one of the parents of that kid, I would be looking for that reporter with a gun.

Anything short of mass firings will be grossly unacceptable.

But a vengeance killing would be OK.

Don't be a douche, I'm making a point.

[Jersey_Guy]

The tribe of DaSilva checks in at the Fayetteville Observer, where their 20-something new media writer says we all don't get it and there's nothing wrong with twittering a funeral:

I honestly don’t see the problem with it. Now it would be different if the tweets were insensitive or mean-spirited, but in my opinion, they are not. Perhaps some people find them offensive, but why is talking about death or even describing death or funerals something problematic? Writers have been doing it since they could write. A reporter writing a 10-inch story about it would describe events hopefully just as accurately (albeit more sentimental).

It seems a lot of people just have a problem with the forum that was used to discuss it. This just shows that a lot of members of the media don’t consider Twitter a legitimate form of communication or story telling.

And my question is, why not?

What I love about Twitter and microblogging is that the method of communication makes you feel like you are there, and perhaps, this is a moment some people would want to experience. There’s nothing wrong with that.

This is a huge problem with the news industry. The online world, bloggers, tweeters, texters, etc… they are just not respected. And I applaud those who are branching out to experiment with these forms of media to reach new audiences in new, different and impacting ways. I hear the frustrations of many journalists and writers who are trying to break through the barriers that the news industry continues to uphold. And I believe that the only ones they are blocking out are their current and future readers.  To those in New Media, I’ll say, we are fighting the good fight.

Riiiight, THAT'S the problem. That we're not respecting tweets.

I just moved into Mizzou territory of anger.

http://blogs.fayobserver.com/techsassy/2008/09/11/twethics/

[Mizzougrad96]

If that's the future of journalism, I will happily not be participating in any of it very soon...

[hondo]

A blog can be done respectfully, even from a funeral.

This is play-by-play. If I was one of the parents of that kid, I would be looking for that reporter with a gun.

Anything short of mass firings will be grossly unacceptable.

Followed by mass executions. Then maybe someone can twitter their funerals.

[Ace]

If that's the future of journalism, I will happily not be participating in any of it very soon...

It's funny that you will see high ranking editors these days get bent out of shape demanding video or blogs or whatever of events that they would not have even considered sending a reporter to a year or two ago.

[Mizzougrad96]

If that's the future of journalism, I will happily not be participating in any of it very soon...

It's funny that you will see high ranking editors these days get bent out of shape demanding video or blogs or whatever of events that they would not have even considered sending a reporter to a year or two ago.

I can just see an editor saying, "I just told him to go and "twitter" I didn't think this is what he would send back.

Fire them all.