Frequently with murder stories, reporters must balance the need to collect information with the feelings of survivors, who invariably endow the martyred loved one with a saintliness that blots out not just the negative but even neutral reality. —Unwanted Spotlight: When private people become part of a public story (Journalism Ethics Gallery)
Similar:
Richard Halloran / Owns Home Computer.
“Engineers now predict the day will come...
Amusing
The Best Argument for Studying English? The Employment Numbers
While health science majors and engineer...
Academia
Rehearsal Rabbi-Cam
This weekend, I will be playing the rabb...
Culture
"We are not Amazon franchises": booksellers respond to Amazon Source
Wonderful snark from an indie bookselle...
Amusing
We Are the Product Facebook Sells
Facebook does not care what Hobbit you a...
Business
I think they mean typeface conference, but "Font Conference" is still amusing.
I think they mean typeface conference, b...
Aesthetics
If someone was killed in my neighborhood, I would have a more than casual interest in knowing the details. Perhaps that person who was killed was not a stranger to me. But you’re right to note that this journalist assumes that journalists have a right (she’d probably call it an obligation) to report the news. The article was written as part of a collection of case studies for journalism students, so that indended primary audience is going to affect the assumptions that the author does and does not examine.
What’s most interesting about this story is the unspoken, underlying assumption that the journalist has a need and the right to make a news story out of someone’s life. Thousands of people are killed every day, all over the world. There is no particular reason for us, as total strangers, to know anything about them. The whole issue centers on the need for human interest stories to keep up readership, regardless of anyone’s desire for privacy.