A response to people who get upset when reporters reach out to eyewitnesses of tragedies: ‘Reporters are rude during tragedies because they’re reporting’

Almost immediately after reports of a shooting at a community college in Oregon hit social media, reporters began contacting students who had tweeted from the scene. But that was met with contempt by some people who believed the eyewitnesses needed space in the middle of a tragedy. Sam Biddle writes that being a reporter often requires being “inconsiderate” and bothering people when they don’t want to be bothered. Without that, Biddle says we wouldn’t like the results: “Imagine this: a burst of tweets show a bus explosion on the interstate, sending up a tremendous mushroom cloud, visible from miles away. How many people are hurt? Or dead? What caused the explosion? No one knows, because all the reporters decided to give the victims and bystanders space.”

+ Earlier: Storyful’s best practices for reaching out to eyewitnesses, including take the time to inquire about the source’s wellbeing

The post A response to people who get upset when reporters reach out to eyewitnesses of tragedies: ‘Reporters are rude during tragedies because they’re reporting’ appeared first on American Press Institute.

from American Press Institute http://ift.tt/1VupYpf