Headline news in Tampa Bay: 5 dead in Suicide, shootings...

[glowing]

They also have follow up stories: To really get to know the people in this tragic event

Victim profiles: Jennifer Renee Davis | Andrea H. Pisanello
The suspect: 'His whole world got turned around'

http://www.tampabay.com / (find all the articles at this link--if you really want to stomache smut journalism)

This is disgusting journalism... It takes the victims and turns them into a play or a movie made for t.v.... They become impersonal, and the family that is left to pick up the peices and grieve are hit over the head with blathering crap. Its also the healine news for the local t.v. talking heads. So, I wrote to the editor.

My response to this shit:

Subject: Suicide-Murder on the Front Page

I was absolutely appalled by your front page splash of the tragic suicide-murder of 5 people. I realize its big news for an area like this when most days you are praying for a news story, but this is disgusting. This is the type of thing I'd expect to be smeared across a smut rag like the National Enquirer. A simple- in the middle of the paper small article would have been enough. How horrible for the family and this community that this tragedy has transpired. AND you thought to glorify this tragedy by splashing it on the front page along with pictures and names. I am disgusted by this action.

And let me also explain that there are important news subjects that need to be covered and are being ignored. Perhaps covering the fact that the CIA has destroyed torture tapes and the White House has increased its paper shredding bill like no other administration. Maybe you could cover the FISA bill and the immunity that the Senate is trying to get for telecom companies for illegaly spying on Americans. Perhaps you can cover one of the hundreds of crimes being perpetrated by the Bush administration. There are enough of these topics that you'd have a new story every day of the week. Instead, you decide the most important news coverage of the day is to cover a tragic event. I'd say this is a private family event that they will need to recover from. This is not a subject that should be splashed all over the news while the family is trying to grieve and uderstand what happened that all of this transpired in the first place... Thanks for proving once again why at times I decide to stop subscribing to this paper. I hate to put money in the pockets of inconsiderate intellectuals who cover non-news issues for the all mighty dollar. Smut journalism is not classy and is woefully disgusting.

[flashl]

1. I am proud of you.

[glowing]

2. Thank you.. I'd appreciate if a few more editorials landed in the editor's

box on this one.. I'm simply disgusted by these low handed tactics used to try to sell newspapers. I don't need to know about the family in such a tragic event... and where were the "good" American services to help the gentleman before he decided to take 4 lives and then his own... I'm glad we have such wonderful support services.. The next few days all we will hear about is gun control. The real issue is why someone wasn't there to help this man before he thought the best thing to do would be to kill his ex and wife and take his own life.

[aikoaiko]

3. isn't it the job of local papers to cover local tragedies and other news events that impact locals?

I just skimmed the articles and didn't see anything particular "smutty" or "glorifying" about their coverage. The tragedy is a set of terrible crimes and not just a "private family event".

[glowing]

5. Like I said.. an in the middle of the paper article would be just fine.

Pictures of each victim and the vehicle by the skyway bridge splashed on the front page is smutty. And because this is a crime that happened surrounding a family with the end result in the killer being dead, I find that it is a personal family issue... If it was my family, I'd be so pissed that they ran a story like this for the whole Tampa Bay community to voy at. Sorry, I have to disagree. The coverage was typical, disgusting smutty journalism, glorifying a tragic event.

Of course, so many have grown up thinking that these events are news worthy and that they have a right to know and impede into the privacy of other people's lives... How "news" worthy were they before? Where were the cameras and psychologists then to help out a family in need? Its Britney Spears news. Its sensationalism. Its disgusting.

[aikoaiko]

11. Yes, we disagree. This type of coverage is appropriate.

[glowing]

14. If it happened to my family... I would puke and then I would sue every

paper and news station for plastering my privacy all over the world.

[Bitwit1234]

4. And they still can't realize why big newspapers are going broke.

[glowing]

6. Perhaps if they reported real news... any real issues or topics, one

must head to the internets to find out whats really going on.

[aikoaiko]

10. Detailed local coverage is the only reason why I subscribe to my local paper.

Implicit in the OP is that detailed coverage will sell more papers because the community wants to to know more about how those folks lived and died.

[THUNDER HANDS]

7. you obviously have never worked in journalism

[glowing]

8. And that comment is supposed to silence me... If more people try

and demand real news.. then perhaps one day, we may get them.. I'm not holding my breath since so many are held by monied people's with an agenda.

[THUNDER HANDS]

9. i'm not trying to silence you

I'm just stating, if you think a murder-suicide is not going to make the front page of a local paper, you don't know journlism.

I'm sure they could put something else, but it wouldn't sell as well.

Newspapers are a business, after all.

[glowing]

12. And in my editorial.. I said I was re-negging my subscription...

That family doesn't need reporters standing on their lawn while they greive and deal with a horrible loss through the Holiday season..

[THUNDER HANDS]

16. that's what happens

everyone who goes through a particularly brutal event, if it's unusual enough, gets media attention. I've seen it in my career as a journalist and I see it now in my career as a court reporter.

Some people handle it better than others. Some families are actually relieved that someone finds interst in their loved-one enough to want to do a story about them.

[glowing]

19. In this area they are vultures.. the commentary and the punditry that

transpires by talk-radio shows and media is disgusting.

[OzarkDem]

13. Its a domestic violence issue, public needs to be educated

What some might consider a "teachable moment". People from all walks of life end up feeling pressure and taking it out on their families. This guy had been doing it for some time, even though he was outwardly a nice and caring person, he didn't know how to deal with his stress constructively.

Such stories, while exploited by the media, also hopefully educate the public to watch for warning signs and learn where and when to seek help before something like this happens again.

This poor wife should have gone to a domestic violence shelter, dropped out of sight. The most dangerous time for any DV victim is when they leave their partner. They need to disappear for a while to minimize the risk of something like this happening. As tragic as it is, its fairly predictable.

[glowing]

15. And where were are the support agencies in America to help families

deal with tragedies.. Where are the places a woman can feel safe and a man can get help... Its shunned and rather non-existent.... Blaming the woman for not disappearing is blaming the victim... Sorry, a woman having to leave the home because of fear or abuse should not have to fear and cower.. Likewise men who are abused... The person abusing needs to be re-meaded to a clinic where they can get psychological counceling and help dealing with possessive qualities and anger issues...

[OzarkDem]

17. Here in our state they get hundreds of millions

The Domestic Violence non-profit industry here is very good at bringing in bucks. Its possible not very much of that money is translated into real services for people who need it. That's a problem in a lot of areas of government funded social and health care services - mental health, disabled, etc. The agencies who get the government funding use it all up in salaries and overhead and very little finds it way into real programs.

[glowing]

18. In cases of abuse, someone doesn't wake up over night and begin

beating their spouse or their children... Normally, it starts early, and often the abuser was a victim themselves... By identifying issues of mental health and mental stability as well as environmental situations would help to end the viscious cycle. Intervention and support systems are desperately needed to be effective. And there is a real need in this country to help the abused before it becomes a situation where incidents such as these occur. It shouldn't be an in-effective protective order that is issued from the judges chaimber.. it ought to be mandated counceling in a treatment center for the abuser...