Picture - When readers attack

Weird that so many people actually used the word "rant" before laying into you guys. I'm not sure I've ever preceded a rant by saying, "This is a rant ..."

 

Well it's a feature of our paper: Rants and Raves.

 

^^^ OK, that makes more sense.

 

You had me until you started the grieving bullshit.
Let me say upfront, I think the photo should run.

But that's not "grieving."
Grieving is done at a funeral home, house of worship, your bedroom at night, in public or private -- however a person decides..
This is the spontaneous reaction of a father who found out his tiny child was killed. and there's a BIG difference between the two.
Grief is a handled controlled emotion. This is not grief; it's a father having his heart ripped out.

 

This is why I left news for sports. I covered my share of murder-suicides, killing sprees, domestic disputes that went horribly awry, standoffs, police chases and just about every example of inhumanity to man.
And on a personal level, I did ache. I kept at least one bar in business. But in sports, rarely do I talk to someone who doesn't want to talk, at least not like a father who just found out his daughter's been killed doesn't want to talk.
But it creeps into sports. One of my first assignments was a state baseball tournament game. The losing pitcher was crying on the dugout steps, and the shooter was taking pictures.
"How can you do that," someone asked, mortified.
"I just click on this button here," he said.
That said, there's no reason in hell I wouldn't run the picture. Then I'd take the writer out for a beer. I'm sure they'd need it. I know I would.

 

Well, here's the thing.

I love this business, and 90 percent of the people on this board, I'm sure I'd agree with about most of what we do.

And this is a great photo.

But let's just say, for the sake of argument, that 80 percent of your readership says they don't think running that photo is appropriate.

This is your readership, mind you. Subscribers. People who pay for your newspaper. Your customers.

But we (always) say to them, "Sometimes a picture tells the story better than words," or whatever. One of my favorites is, "If running that photo saves the life of one more child, then it's worth it." As if running a photo of a grieving father will prevent another 2-year-old from being hit by a bus.

Running photos like this is what we do. And I'm not saying that this one shouldn't have run.

What I AM saying is that we sometimes have a "we know what's best for you" attitude that borders on arrogance, so let me leave it with this: If this photo hadn't run, would the paper's readership have been hurt one iota? More to the point, were more people unnecessarily hurt by this photo than were moved in a more positive sense, as positive as possible in this situation?

This photo might indeed rightfully win an award. That doesn't automatically mean it was the best thing to shove in front of readers over breakfast at 7:30 in the morning.

Just questions to be considered.

 

I completely understand everyone who said it should have run. It's a NEWSpaper and that was news.

Or was it?

Certainly the accident was news, and the story was fine. But I kind of liken this to people being upset with the electronic media when they stick a microphone in someones face at some tragic event and ask "how do you feel?" Those people are often called vultures.

The picture is very powerful...and it does more than 1000 words could, but I can't convince myself that this isn't the journalistic equivalent.

My .02. But, what the hell do I know?

 

Buck, you're right. What I mentioned shouldn't be the only factor. But if this guy's kneeling in his back yard as opposed to out on the road (that's what the picture looked like to me) I'd have more qualms about running the picture.

T_D: Were any of the responses from his family? I'm guessing they weren't.

 

THANK YOU, DALLAS! YOU BLEW ME AWAY! GOOD NIGHT!

 

As someone who designed front pages for seven years, I would have run that picture.

It's compelling, and it hurts to look at it.

People will complain. That's their right to respond and our responsibility is listen whether we like it or not.

But bottom line is I work at a newspaper and it's my job to report the news. And this was news, not the kind anyone likes, but news nonetheless.

I tip the cap to the reporter who: 1. had a camera, 2. had the guts to use it, and 3. could keep hands from shaking so the photo would be in focus.

 

Tommy--I don't know if you said earlier, is this a paper for a small community with a very local readership?

It's completely understandable that local people are hit hard by this kind of tragedy, and don't want the knife to cut any deeper.

Doesn't make it wrong to run the picture, but it does justify the rection.

 

N_W: A family member contacted our XE and said we were worse than the papparazzi.

21: This town is a big town with a small-town mentality.