Covering tragedy as a reporter may be the most thankless and difficult task in modern media. While viewers break down in tears over the horrific events that are unfolding before them on TV, radio hosts and reporters have to remain stoic and calmly impart news that must surely be tearing at them from the inside.
Likewise, print reporters have to sit down at their laptops and quickly sum up sadness so great and pain so deep for which no words will ever suffice.
We don't know how they do it, but we are thankful they do.
We are thankful for the outstanding job done by our local Colorado outlets in telling the story of the victims and the heroes. In this terrible tragedy there have been many unsung heroes, and we have no doubt the local media will do their best to make sure each and every one of their stories is told.
On these pages we spend plenty of time pointing out glaring mistakes made by the media. They make plenty, and we're more than glad to point them out. But through these last couple of days the local press has performed outstandingly through brutal hours and heart-wrenching interviews.
Sure, some national outlets like ABC News have made some major mistakes, but that shouldn't diminish the great work done by the folks at The Denver Post, Aurora Sentinel and local TV and radio stations, among others. They have made Coloradans proud.
Todd Shepherd, an award winning reporter and CompleteColorado.com founder who covered the Platte Canyon High school hostage crisis for 850KOA, shared his thoughts on the job done by the media throughout this terrible event:
Covering a crisis like this is just as emotional for a reporter as it is for us normal folk watching the scene unfold, but they have to hide or delay their emotions, then go cry hard somewhere else when the camera or microphone is off. And of course, this is not to elevate a reporter's problems above those of the victims. Just grateful for the local ones that have always put this community at the top of their list.
We at the Peak too add our gratitude for the local ones that kept the community of Aurora and Colorado writ large at the top of their list.
(Photo via Twitter)