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Home > Blogs > West Chester News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > April > 22 > Entry
Please, watch your kids
Yesterday, Journal-News photographer Cameron Knight took some of the best photos I’ve ever been lucky enough to attach a story to.
But I hope we never have to do it again.
Cam and I were one of the first news teams on the scene yesterday at an apartment complex on Triangle Drive. A two-year-old had been playing in front of her apartment while her mother talked to a neighbor and a flock of other kids played in the small yards and parking lot. The mother and neighbor finished their conversation, and the neighbor got into her car.
She pulled out of her spot just as the toddler ran in front of her.
The scene at the apartment yesterday afternoon was chaos; family members and neighbors screaming and crying, some covered with blood. Police trying to keep the accident scene secure as curious kids and neighbors crowded around. The helicopter taking off, blasting us with rotor wash as it raced off to Cincinnati Children’s in an ultimately futile attempt to save Amari Ross.
As a reporter, you live in a world of conflicts. Conflicts over what’s newsworthy, conflicts over keeping bias out of your stories while getting important points out to your readers, conflicts that you have to watch from the front line and write about.
Tragedies are no exception; I’m proud of the story we captured in words and images, and that we were finishing our initial report as our competitor’s reporter was just pulling in, but the sights and sounds of what happened yesterday, the raw grief in the voices of the people I interviewed - that kept me up late into the night.
There is more to write about Ross’ death than what made it into the paper yesterday. I want to write about that; it’s part of why I love what I do, after all. But part of me wants to let it pass, let the family grieve in anonymity. My job, what I’m paid to do, what I’m proud to do, is to find a balance - to respect the victims while telling the story my readers need to see. There are lessons to be learned from every tragedy, and my job is to bring them to light for you, my readers. I’m proud to have that responsibility, and promise I’ll give this story the coverage it deserves.
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