The latest horrific school shooting in the U.S. produced an unnecessary diversion when authorities in Madison, Wisconsin, got huffy over reporters’ requests for basic information — such as the names of the two victims killed.
Respect for the news media is low, and reporters can be overly pushy at times. But the role of the news media is to act as a surrogate for the public, getting answers to questions that most people want to know. That includes asking those questions even during highly emotional times.
The mayor of Madison, Satya Rhodes-Conway, was understandably distraught and stressed, but her lecture to reporters, when they pressed her for the victims’ names, was unjustified.
“It is absolutely none of y’alls business who was harmed in the incident,” the mayor scolded on Tuesday, a day after the shooting at a nondenominational Christian school. “Please, have some human decency and respect for the people who lost loved ones or were injured themselves or whose children were injured.”
The effort of Madison officials to withhold victim information was counterproductive. It only served to create more interest, not tamp it down. It was also fruitless. By Wednesday, the names of the student and teacher who were killed became public through other sources — an obituary and the county medical examiner. The six who were wounded will probably be identified through other sources, too.
Reporters sometimes get it wrong, but so do public officials. In this case, Madison police initially said that five people, including the 15-year-old shooter, were dead, and that the call to authorities for help came from a second grade student. In truth, the death toll was three, and the call to 911 came from a second grade teacher.
Mistakes are going to happen when dramatic news is breaking and the situation is fluid. The best that anyone can do is clear up the misstatements and errors as quickly as possible.
It’s a lot easier to avoid the dissemination of wrong information when government officials cooperate with reporters rather than take umbrage at their legitimate questions.
Madison officials probably meant well in withholding the names of the victims. They most likely were trying to spare the families, during their time of shock and grief, from being pestered by reporters’ calls or prying cameras. But it’s not the job of public officials to be the media’s gatekeepers.
Their job is to provide the information and hope that those who receive it will act responsibly and with sensitivity. Even if a few bad actors don’t, that’s not reason enough to keep the public uninformed.
