As I sat in my home office this
morning, I was shocked when the news came that two journalists for a
Virginia television stations were killed while conducting a live
interview for the station's morning news show.
I had planned to catch up on some
personal work but really have not been able to get my mind off these
young people, both in their 20s, whose bright futures ended so
abruptly as they were doing what appeared to be a positive feature
about a business district.
You might have seen the video and the
look of horror on the face of Alison Parker, the young reporter, just
before her life was senselessly taken.
As someone who has made my living, or
at least part of it, in journalism over half of my life, I hurt for
the people involved. I never met either and have no ties other than
being in the larger journalistic fraternity.
But I can't say I was shocked. We live
in a crazy, mixed up world in which anything goes and the deranged
walk the streets with us.
Even though I work for a small town
newspaper, I have seen glimpses of the dangers of just doing this
job.
It is not uncommon to have my camera
bag or brief case searched. At first, I thought it was kind of silly,
but the fact is that anyone could be capable of lunacy. If someone
does not know me personally, I now have no problem showing the
security detail what I have with me. I don't have anything to hide.
Over the years, I have witnessed people
in the stands who give me reason to pause. While I have never felt
threatened with serious injury while working the sidelines, I have
seen people at games who appear unstable or so belligerent that I
wonder if they are capable of serious violence.
I won't go into details here. Let's just say it happens and most any journalist knows exactly what I mean.
Journalists also receive e-mails or
letters threatening varying degrees of ill will. While I believe most
are from people who have had a bad day and really have not thought
through what they say, you can never be too careful.
Now we have seen tragedy on live TV.
That makes it hit close to home.
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