One of the most controversial topics of Friday’s coverage of the tragic shooting in Newtown, CT was interviewing children outside the school. Do you think the kids should have been put on camera?
Food for Thought
Should the kids who survived Newtown’s school shooting have been interviewed on camera?
-
12/16/12
by WGNO.com Web Desk
14 Comments to “Should the kids who survived Newtown’s school shooting have been interviewed on camera?”
December 16, 2012 at 10:40 PM
No, it shows no respect from the news media who had to get the "first" report. for a community that had just been traumatized. Why make a child who had just gone through a horrific incident relive something that he may never get over for the rest of his life.
December 16, 2012 at 10:42 PM
I think that is good for the kids to express, share & talk about the painful, horrific tragedy that they unfortunatly witnessed. Usually kids withhold their feeling and keep it bottled up, so I feel that only positive things can come from them talking about it. -Christine in Kenner
December 19, 2012 at 11:58 PM
I agree with you.
December 16, 2012 at 11:00 PM
The children need to be able to express their feelings, fears and concerns. But not to the media. Unlike trained counselors, news reporters don't always know the right questions to ask, nor the right things to say, to keep from causing more pain or damage. I feel that children are more fragile than alults, and there are some things that they should be protected from. Seeing and hearing the incident as it unfolded was enough. Let's not make them relive it by allowing the media to probe into their fragile minds.
December 17, 2012 at 3:19 PM
No i do not think they should have been interviewed on camera. Now it's fine if they are able to talk about their feelings with parents or someone who deals with these kinds of situations.
December 20, 2012 at 12:01 AM
That is most ideal, I think.
December 17, 2012 at 5:12 PM
The most sickening form of exploitation imaginable.
December 19, 2012 at 11:59 PM
Oh, there's worse.
December 17, 2012 at 7:04 PM
Ghouls reporting for other ghouls interview kids during the worst moment of their lives. I just want facts, not emotional manipulation for the cause of ratings. Political reptiles love it because they can the aggrandize themsleves as the caring father figure. I've done a lot of public speaking and I know what I'm talking about here.
December 17, 2012 at 8:25 PM
I think that a certain amount of media exposure is appropriate to help people appreciate the impact of a particular event. These children couldn't have been interviewed without the consent of their parents, right? I think that it was fine to ask the older ones who may have been in another part of the school one or two questions.
December 18, 2012 at 2:18 PM
I doubt most reporters obtained signed consent forms or even oral permission. No way!
December 19, 2012 at 11:55 PM
Then that's another problem.
December 17, 2012 at 10:28 PM
No, these kids should not have been interviewed about this horrible ordeal. Sympathy and respect should have been shown for the parents of the students who lost their lives. If I was a parent of one of the kids who got murdered in the school, I would have been filled with more pain watching the parents and surviving students talk about what happened on the news. The parents of these students should have said no to any and all media interviews because this is a sad tragedy.
April 10, 2013 at 4:18 PM
These kids DID NOT witness ANYTHING…they heard stuff.