OUR VIEW
Granite Media Partners Inc. owns 10 newspapers, including the Taylor Press.
Not long ago, one of our sister publications did what U.S. newspapers and television stations have been doing for generations: It ran a picture of a fatality traffic accident.
The photo appeared on the newspaper’s Facebook page.
It was not graphic and it was taken from a long distance.
The picture was no different, really, from similar photos that ran during the same week in dozens of other Texas newspapers and on Texas television stations in cities big and small. Accident photos had been displayed before in that paper, too, without a hue and a cry.
The Taylor Press also has run images from numerous tragedies.
Yet in this instance involving the sister publication, a handful of online readers complained, claiming the newspaper was being disrespectful and insensitive. Some said the victim’s relatives should not have to find out about their loved one’s passing because of a newspaper photo.
Because we value our readers’ viewpoints at all of our newspapers, and because we listen to our audiences in each community, we subsequently cropped the picture so the automobile in question could not be seen.
Not long after we amended the image, however, other folks joined in, opining there was nothing wrong with the original photo. In fact, they asked us why we covered up the image of the car in what was a tragic but newsworthy incident. Let’s be clear: No matter where our readers stand on the issue, the newspaper did nothing wrong.
It is the right, the responsibility and the obligation of all newspapers to cover the news, no matter how unpleasant. No disrespect is ever intended to victims or their families, and we certainly are sympathetic to anyone dealing with the aftermath of a tragedy.
But the First Amendment of our cherished Bill of Rights enshrines the duty of the press as the eyes and ears of the community, which includes reporting on both the bad and the good.
For decades, newspapers and television stations have reported on, filmed and photographed serious accidents to keep the public informed and that is not going to change.
Social media, websites and radio stations do the same in some form or fashion. If we stopped covering tragedies, then our audience would also wonder what else we might be leaving out.
Our founding fathers intended the press to be the watchdog over government. They knew free and unfettered journalism is necessary for a community to make informed decisions. First responders are paid by taxes; they are government workers.
It is our job to show people how those taxes are being used, whether it’s a rescue effort or local officials expending funds to fix a bad road.
Our job is to record the history of al the communities we cover, whether it’s Hutto, Taylor or the far side of Houston, as we faithfully have been doing for decades.
If you have a viewpoint, please feel free to share it in writing with Granite Media Partners’ Executive Editor Thomas Edwards at thomas. edwards@granitemedipartners. com. This opinion piece was prepared by the editorial board of Granite Media Partners.
