We spent a lot of time in the newsroom debating about how to handle this story, which finally ran over the weekend. Mainly, we were trying to balance concern for the family of the deceased with the news value of the story -- that news value being that the victim of the fatal car crash should not have been on the road in the first place, because of a series of "driving with license revoked" arrests.
We did a couple of things to mitigate any pain the story might have brought -- first, we waited until after the funeral; second, we ran the story inside, rather than on the front.
So, do you think this story was newsworthy, or should it have been left out altogether?
1 comment:
When I first read the story, I didn't think much about it. It didn't strike me as crass. You pose an interesting question though. It still doesn't seem to change my mind. Fact is, someone was killed while they were breaking the law. Does the family of a robber shot and killed by police not feel pain and suffering? Would you hold that story because of the family's grief? A person that has a revoked license did something illegal and unsafe to have their license revoked. In this case multiple times. It seems reasonable to assume that, this person may be a threat to other drivers and people, especially if he violates the law to continue driving. Doesn't mean he deserved to die. It is still tragic when anyone loses their life. At least you thought about it before running the story.
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