Absent express permission, repeated attempts to copy this page into a cache, into memory or onto a disk will result in legal action. Germer is a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. Excepted from AJR, June 1995. Full text at Electronic Newsstand . Supporters of the practice say it puts a human face on disaster and offerstherapy for the grieving.
Critics say such reporting is insensitive,exploitative and unnecessary.
Lights on, cameras rolling, mikes in the faces of the grieving. This isthe most devastating moment in their lives, just another story to thepack. Yet while it may appear that journalists pounce on victims and theirfamilies and friends without mercy, many are bothered by these stories. They didn't know. The FBI hadn't called.