Last night’s mass-casualty shooting in Lewiston, Maine, is somewhat personal. For starters, I graduated from the high school, and today one of my sisters reminded me that when teens we bowled at the alley where the killer started his rampage. Additionally, as a journalist, the reporting about the tragedy interests me, and I am simply stunned by how measuredly responsible the team at News Center Maine has covered the ongoing story.
I have periodically watched the live stream from the station’s dedicated app, on Roku, or from the web browser on my laptop. Last night, when some national news services reported 22 dead and more than 50 injured, the anchors explained they understood that numbers were being reported elsewhere but News Center Maine would wait for official—thereby, verifiable—figures from law enforcement. Hours later, the local station reported 15-20 dead, as provided by police to NBC News. Eighteen is accurate, not 22.
As the national news media sensationalized the shooting, News Center Maine anchors rebutted with sanely calming tone. As one explained, 50 injured (if accurate) doesn’t mean as many people shot. Injuries could, and likely would, occur if, say, stampede of people fled the venue.
Today, the anchors discussed, sometimes heatedly, the merits of withholding victims’ names when other news organizations released them and the identities appeared on social media. In defending the decision to wait, one anchor explained that journalism should be held to a higher standard, even when the information is available online elsewhere (e.g., Facebook). He emphasized: How awful for someone to hear on TV that their loved one had been killed. Ah, yeah.
Two issues here: Firstly, there is responsibility to the community and viewing audience of not rushing to release names before law enforcement has notified next of kin. Secondly, re-reporting what someone else has reported or grabbing information from social media posts by presumed victims’ friends or family members is unverified. Sourcing is everything.
About 50 minutes later, the broadcaster released names, which were verified: “News Center Maine has spoken with family and friends of those who have died, and the following names have been shared with us so far”. Kudos. That’s responsible sourcing.
When working with other journalists under me, I always counseled them: Write what you know to be true—in the moment. The qualifier is meant for breaking stories like the Lewiston shooting, where what is known can change. Lifting lingo from Star Trek, I call “reporting what you know to be true” the “Prime Directive“.
If you don’t contact the source or absolutely authenticate a third-party, you don’t know what is true. Responsible sourcing is as much about trust as truth. News reporting is as much as anything a relationship of trust with the audience, and this is truest for local broadcast and print media operations. So I commend News Center Maine for showing restraint, rather than rushing to be first, or to sensationalize, and in the process avoid being wrong; violating the Prime Directive.
News Center Maine is a two-affiliate operation: WCSH in Portland (from where were the aforementioned news anchors) and WLBZ in Bangor. I am familiar with both TV stations, being a native Mainer who watched both broadcasters when living in the Pine Tree State.