Covering Tragedy and Death

By Lindsey and Javier

Dealing with tragedy and death is a difficult and touchy issue. Journalists who report on death and tragedy must make ethical decisions about the best way to handle it.
In the news today, especially television news, death is usually reported as a top story, but we usually only hear a small blurb of information about what happened. We don't hear much about the person who died and sometimes the reason for death is not specified.
Like we discussed in class, many obituaries leave out the reasons for death. Oftentimes it is important to include why the death or tragedy occurred so that it will not happen again. Sometimes the reason is left out because it may seem embarrassing to the family, but that is an ethical decision that the reporter needs to make.
Another thing to consider is your audience. The tragic events of the past decade, such as 9/11, the war in Iraq and hurricane Katrina have in a way desensitized us to death because it has been in the news all the time.
The ethical question regarding death is how far do you go in your investigation. A journalist must determine what kinds of questions are appropriate to ask the family or friends of the deceased person, and what details to include in his or her story.
Photographers also have to deal with ethical questions regarding death. When is it appropriate to photograph a dead body?
In one example, a photographer took a photo from a helicopter of a rescue attempt of a kidnapped child in Vancouver in 2006. It was a high-profile kidnapping case and had been in the news for weeks. In the photo, the young girl’s dead body could be seen visibly floating in a lake. The photo was published and put on the front page. The family of the girl found out about her death this way. Was it ethical of the paper to run the photo? Yes and no. Yes because it was for the sake of news and getting the story out. No because the family of the victim was hurt by it. Those are the decisions journalists and photographers must make.
Essentially, the best way dealing with this would be on a “need to know” basis.