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Amish photos

Some newspapers across the country are getting complaints from readers. The problem? They published photos of Amish people following the tragic shooting story. Some have complained that newspapers intruded on people's personal grieving. Others have complained because many Amish people do not like to be photographed because of their faith.

The Post and Courier has published several wire photographs in connection with the story. None was an up-close photo of an Amish person. Instead, they showed scenes like a family crossing a field in the distance and a buggy going to a funeral. The paper here has received no complaints.

Not all Amish people have the same sensitibilities about photographs. Some do not allow their photos to be taken at all. Some allow them from a distance or from behind. Others allow photos to be used without their names.

When The Post and Courier decided to use photos to accompany the shooting stories, they did so with the understanding that the photographers had found out these Amish people's rules and shown them appropriate respect.

In addition, even the strictest Amish rules might look different in such an extreme situation. For example, the Amish lead simple lives -- not lives where they are wont to receive extraordinary gifts. One Amish man was quoted as saying his people could probably handle the financial end of the tragedy on their own, "yet is not right to stop people from the blessing of giving or receiving a gift ... It would be unChristlike for us to stop this."

This was an unusual (and unusually devastating) situation.

Obits

Here's the conundrum.

In my experience, lots of public discourse has a sharp edge -- not just a keen insight, but bloodlust. I attribute it to political polarization; to the combative tone of radio talk shows and some cable TV shows; and to the darkness of pressing world issues like war, global warming and terrorism.

But more and more I get comments from readers who want the newspaper to be gentler. They want "good news" on the front page. They chafe at news that might taint politicians they support. They only want comics that make them laugh, not ones that challenge them to think.

A recent complaint took me by surprise. The reader said the paper exhibited "extreme bad taste and the height of insensitivity" when its obit page one day included the funeral notices for both a woman who had been shot to death and for the man who shot her. His suggestion was that, while the alleged killer's family was likely suffering too, the family of the woman should not have had to look at his obit when they saw hers.

Certainly The Post and Courier wants to be sensitive to readers. But it is unreasonable to think that a NEWSpaper will be filled with only information which is not offensive. It was important to  readers to learn information about the funeral arrangements for both people. Both families paid for the information to be published, and both families will likely need support from people who know how to give it because of information they read in the paper.

What bleeds leads

On many days when the front page of The Post and Courier features news about homicides, I hear from readers. They simply don't want to see that news on the front page. Tell them anything else -- just not that.

Oddly, today's front page drew no responses, and the theme of every story was the same: violence.

Christan Rainey talked about losing his mother and four siblings in a shooting spree at their home in North Charleston.

North Charleston Police talked about their use of Tasers which killed Kip Black on Sunday.

Gregory S. Mullen was sworn in as chief of police for Charleston and said, "Violent crime will be our priority."

And a fourth story reported on the landscape Mullen is meeting -- a landscape where "people are afraid," according to Councilman Henry Fishburne.

Notes on 1A referred readers to more related local news inside the paper: another shooting on the East Side; a hearing for the young children who robbed a video store; and a group planning to march against drugs and violence. Then there was a front-page key telling readers to find a story on 3A about a gunman executing three girls and himself at an Amish school.

Nobody called. Nobody wrote. I'm not sure why.

Maybe a single shooting story seems to them to be there "simply to sell more papers." Maybe a page full of news seems to reveal that the area is facing a serious problem. Maybe they were simply too depressed to pick up the phone.

Newspapers and television news programs are sometimes derided for paying too much attention to crime. "If it leads, it bleeds." Reader polls indicate the opposite -- people want to know if their neighborhoods are safe or not.

Today's front page tells me the paper must continue to report on crime news --  not because polls suggest it but because citizens have a need to know it.