Do All Murders Warrant Coverage?

I'm living and working in Baltimore this month and have been introduced to a near epic level of crime, I believe. Not just crime though--death. I knew the murder rate was extremely high in some cities including Baltimore, Detroit, Oakland.. and some others. But it doesn't really sink in until it's truly surrounding you each and every day, at work and at home.

By Thursday of my first week, I had already lost count of the death count. Just 4 days and I had already lost track because there were so many deaths. Mind you, some over these past 2 weeks have not been murders (1 police stand-off led to police shooting and killing the man plus a train hit and killed 2 teenagers), but most have. And the worst one of all has yet to become a murder... a 5-year-old girl shot in the head after a punk 17-year-old fresh out of jail was firing bullets at a rival gang member on a sidewalk one afternoon. The girl is still fighting for her life on life support in a drug-induced coma. Word from the hospital though is that she won't make it; she took the bullet to the worst part of her brain apparently. If she does, they expect her to be essentially brain dead. She is five years old. As for the 17-year-old, he's been arrested 13 times since he was 10, and he had just removed his parole ankle bracelet before firing those shots.

But many times police simply find bodies. No one ever reported shots fired. No one ever reported a killing. No suspects, no motive. In the hood. I've been told the murder count is about 200 annually for Baltimore City. However, that person says it's actually much higher because as with other cities with such high crime/murder rates... they lie. When the Baltimore City Police Department finds a body and toxicology reports come back showing the body had drugs and/or alcohol, in it then even if it has gunshot wounds or stab wounds, the police department classifies it simply as a homicide and not a murder. That accounts for about 200 or more deaths a year. Hence, Baltimore City's murder count per year can be more like 400-500. It's a war zone out there.

With that many bodies turning up, is each one a news story? Or is it like robberies, burglaries, and drug deals which many of us view not to be particularly newsworthy? Part of me feels bad for saying a person being murdered is not even worth an 11 second VO in the newscast (that's how long some of the one's I or the other show producer have written are). Yet, there's so many, is each one a story? What's unique and therefore newsworthy about it? Part of me also wonders if we don't cover it--and in an unintended way glorify it--will there be less of them?

Any ideas?

A Different Level for Censcorship

I've been working at WBFF (FOX45) in Baltimore for a week now and after 4 days I've lost count of the death toll for the week--this while a little 5-year-old girl continues to cling on, on life support after being shot in the head. When you stop and think about it (for me that's what it takes) it's absolutely disgusting. Should I by a stroke of a miracle get a job here and move here, I would not stay to raise a family in the future. No way in hell.

So, after that little girl was shot the other day I noticed something in the hour afterward. We were receiving video of the scene fed back from the live truck prior to the newscast and there was a shot of a young guy being put into the back of a Baltimore Police van. The Assistant News Director told the editor he could use any of the video, just not that shot. Why? Well, that's simple of course, it would lead viewers to believe that guy was guilty of shooting that little girl when in reality he may not have at all. He was being taken in for questioning at that time and nothing more. Simple journalistic ethics.

But, in a city like Baltimore (or Detroit or a couple other cities) things are different. A decision like that I've realized after just one week==whether the Assistant ND realized it or not--goes much further than just ethics. It may save someone's life.

This is gang stuff. That's how the girl got shot because she unfortunately got between 2 moving gangs in a neighborhood and took a stray bullet. Say this isn't the guy who fired that gun and is released before police make an arrest. Around here the gangs may take care of business themselves and go after that guy when he's back on the streets. All because we would have used one piece of video of him that gave the worst person the wrong impression.

So, get your facts (including video) straight. It may go well beyond just "moral ethics." In some cities, it may save lives.