While the release of the tapes is anticipated in January, Denver television executives are struggling with difficult questions of whether and how much to broadcast. Local TV news directors are weighing how to handle the tapes, attempting to balance ethical concerns of what is appropriate for viewers with journalistic instincts and responsibilities. Kucharski declined to speculate on whether the station would show excerpts or simply run a story reporting on the tapes' release. Judgment calls will be made in each newsroom. There is no guarantee that each media outlet will do things the same way,'' Kucharski noted.
Timing weighs into the decision-making, local news executives agree.
A visual deemed too harsh for viewers at the time of the Columbine attacks may be considered tolerable a year later. Unfortunately the whole tragedy does not belong just to the families in an event like this one,'' said Daugherty of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Like the Oklahoma City bombing and like other tragedies that have really touched us all - the tragedy belongs in many ways not just to the families but to the public. D.C. Usually in these sorts of cases, Kaplar said, the courts have said that unless the material is defamatory, if it is newsworthy it should be made public. The Denver Post.