Journalism 101: Don't get calloused
In journalism, there are a few maxims. Strive for truth. Remain objective. Give both sides of a political debate an opportunity to speak.
And go to the scene of a homicide!
Why is that important?
It's important for balance, for a deeper view of the way the crime unfolded, for those invaluable details from the scene.
But most important is remaining in touch with the humanity of these tragedies.
I went to a scene yesterday that was heartbreaking, even for a reporter like me who has been to dozens of homicide scenes and funerals in three years.
A handful of women and small children humbly trudged up "A-Block" on the West side with a few cheap balloons. They stopped where 18-year-old Marshawn Hampton was killed. Some cried. They all talked softly about their friend, their nephew, their cousin, their brother.
All of that is in today's paper, along with the brief police description of what happened and the police contention that Marshawn was a "gangmember." Marshawn had no criminal record.
The story could have very easily gone a different way.
I could have not gone to the scene, and instead just relied on some scant info from police. That happens all the time, even in our own backyard.
The story would have been much simpler: "Gangmember gunned down," or something along those lines. And the message would have been clear:
The lives of young men, especially young black men, don't even warrant more than a blurb in the paper.
Their loved ones' descriptions of them are ignored, and instead we rely on some one-dimensional description from police ...
"Gangmember."
Newspapers do that all the time. And it's a problem.
Newspapers don't become a part of the blood and fiber of a community with a bunch of reporters who stay anchored to their desks, or avoid certain neighborhoods.
When you don't go out and feel the tragedy, the sobbing mother, the bloodstained porch, the child asking his mommy why people die, you become calloused and insulated ... and calloused reporters have a stilted ability to report the community they cover.
With the closing of our Community Police operations close to the neighborhoods, we are told that the SBPD will have a virtual station as close as a computer screen. This does not reallt sit well with the elderly and the language challenged people in our City.