RIP Brendan Burke, son of Brian

[V_Corningstone]

A sad night for Brian Burke.

http://www.pal-item.com/article/20100205/UPDATES/100205038/Out-of-state+victims+identified+in+U.S.+35+weather-related+fatality

Brendan Burke was his son.

 

[YankeeFan]

Oh my God, what a horrible story.

This is the son that was profiled recently, right? There's nothing worse than outliving your child.

 

[V_Corningstone]

Yes, it is the same son.

 

[21]

Sad beyond words.

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/74600/

 

[YankeeFan]

Sad beyond words.

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/74600/

You've just got to hope that Brian can find some comfort knowing that his son knew that he had his father's unconditional love.

 

[imjustagirl]

From The Star:

http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/article/761516--leafs-saddened-by-loss-of-brian-burke-s-son

Brendan Burke – the gay son of Leaf general manager Brian Burke – has been killed in a car accident, caused at least in part by a snowstorm.

What the hell is that? Second, third, fourth, all of the above grafs, I'm fine with. But in the lede? As if that's all he was? So disrespectful.

Am I alone?

 

[Bodie_Broadus]

Doesn't need to be in the story at all. If he was heterosexual would it be mentioned?

 

[imjustagirl]

I'm fine with it being in the story, because it was a big deal just a few months ago. It just read wrong in the identifying sentence.

 

[21]

From The Star:

http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/article/761516--leafs-saddened-by-loss-of-brian-burke-s-son

Brendan Burke – the gay son of Leaf general manager Brian Burke – has been killed in a car accident, caused at least in part by a snowstorm.

What the hell is that? Second, third, fourth, all of the above grafs, I'm fine with. But in the lede? As if that's all he was? So disrespectful.

Am I alone?

Vile.

Doesn't belong there at all.

If you desperately need to make it part of the story, bury it somewhere with reference to the recent story about their close and unconditional relationship. But it's an afterthought, not the lead. Horrible.

 

[Boom_70]

Tragic ending to what was turning out to be a beautiful story. There is times you read things that just take your breath away. This is one of those.

The lede - one of the dumbest, coldhearted I've ever read.

 

[Blitz]

Maybe mentioned much later in the story, with reference that he'd caught flack over it.
Maybe not mentioned in the story at all.
Very disrespectful to be in the lede.

 

[imjustagirl]

Also, we always make sure to turn ads off on obits or stories about death. This one has ads on, which leads to an inserted ad asking:

Ads by Google
Could my Husband be Gay?

Worried your husband might be Gay?
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www.mydailymoment.com

This is just horribly handled, top to bottom.

 

[Football_Bat]

This is definitely not the time and place for a Heathers reference.

 

[JR]

Kevin McGran from the Star is a better writer than that. The fact that his editors didn't kill that is pretty pathetic.

The Globe & Mail's Sarah Boesveld and James Mirlte have a much better story

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/brian-burkes-son-killed-in-auto-accident/article1458392/

This is in the second graf of their story:

Burke, a student manager for the NCAA hockey team at the University of Miami (Ohio), had made headlines around the hockey world earlier this season when he announced that he was gay.

Nothing wrong with that because it was a story.

The Star should be taken out to the woodshed for their lede

My condolences to the Burke family and RIP Brendan

As a father of three sons this is too much to bear

 

[fishhack2009]

Something most of us can agree on, apparently.

Tonight, he's a son and a son only.

How many deskers did this slither through at a paper like the Star?

 

[V_Corningstone]

We can't even be sure it's the writer's fault and not the desker's/editor's.

 

[imjustagirl]

We can't even be sure it's the writer's fault and not the desker's/editor's.

That's actually the way it read to me. That it had been added in. I don't know why.

I clicked on 'report error' at the bottom and filed a complaint. I basically said that the way that story is was so disrespectful to Brendan, to Brian and the Burke family as well as Brendan's friends. Marginalizing him that way flew in the face of what his coming out was meant to do.

 

[JR]

We can't even be sure it's the writer's fault and not the desker's/editor's.

Yeah, except there's another story on the accident on the Star website

http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/article/761498--brian-burke-s-son-brendan-killed-in-car-crash?bn=1

Here's the lede on that one

Brendan Burke, the youngest son of Leafs president Brian Burke, is dead after an accident in Indiana.

I seriously doubt that the editors would have added "gay" to the original McGran story. Or maybe I'm missing something because I'm not in the biz--but I doubt it.

 

[Double J]

My condolences to the Burke family and RIP Brendan

As a father of three sons this is too much to bear

Word for word.

 

[V_Corningstone]

We can't even be sure it's the writer's fault and not the desker's/editor's.

Yeah, except there's another story on the accident on the Star website

http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/article/761498--brian-burke-s-son-brendan-killed-in-car-crash?bn=1

Here's the lede on that one

Brendan Burke, the youngest son of Leafs president Brian Burke, is dead after an accident in Indiana.

I seriously doubt that the editors would have added "gay" to the original McGran story. Or maybe I'm missing something because I'm not in the biz--but I doubt it.

Does the Star have but one desker/editor on shift on a Friday night? I realize there have been severe cutbacks in the industry but that seems tight for a major metro.

Presumptions, suppositions and possibilities. They matter neither here nor there. It was disrespectful as Ms. Girl pointed out and the staff of the night should be roundly admonished for the slight.

We wish Mr. Burke and his family our deepest sympathies and we will that they have the strength to understand such a tragic occurrence.