Power of the press

Earlier in the week I went to the website of my newspaper at home - the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. I read through the news, as usual, and clicked on a story that was a video from their multimedia department. I don't remember what that first story was about, but off to the side of the video screen were links to others stories. I clicked on one about homicides in 2007. I was amazed at what I saw. I saw 46 faces. Each the same size black and white picture, all lined up in a neat and orderly grid. Each representing someone from my community who was killed last year. There was more. As I moved my mouse across the page, I discovered that each picture could be opened. I randomly clicked on Adam Emling, 24. Upon reading the side bar, I remembered hearing of his killing on the news when I was home. He was killed on July 14th outside Mark's Texas Hots on Monroe Ave. in the city. He was shot accidentally as his killer aimed for someone else. All of a sudden, I hear a voice and see a picture. "He's my oldest son..." the voice says. His mother is remembering her lost child. The two of them are shown embracing. Then there is a picture of a cute toddler pressed up against a window. The audio was 2 minutes and 45 seconds long. Each second is accompanied by photographs, providing glimpses into a life that ended too soon by senseless violence. An all too familiar story in this city.

I was proud at that moment to be looking at the work of a newspaper I've grown up with. A newspaper that has remembered the people it serves, and the stories it should feel obligated to cover. In a city that had just over 50 murders in 2007, it can be easy to become desensitized. I too am guilty of glazing over the headline of another murder in the city. As it is the responsibility of the media to bring us the story, it is equally the media's responsibility to put it into context. Up until know, the local media have largely failed the latter duty. This is especially true of the broadcast outlets. They wouldn't spent more than a minute and a half at most to cover the entire story of Adam's death, let alone describing who he was as a person. And while they cannot be blamed for the short time on the air, which is the nature and necessity of broadcast journalism, they certainly can be held accountable for not utilizing their online platform to better serve the community. Luckily a newspaper with a far more progressive website rose to the challenge. It saw the need to remember last year's murder victims as people rather than just statistics. And it created the most powerful tribute of all - a tribute that nearly eliminated the role of the journalist and connected to the community directly. It exposed the memories and raw emotion through the first person. I can no longer think of Adam, or anyone else on that page, as a victim of crime. I can only think of them as people who touched the lives of those around them, and as individuals who no longer are able to contribute their unique qualities to the community.