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St. Cloud State University
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Rocori tests reporters
By Adam Hammer
Published:
Thursday, October 30, 2003
Media Credit: Adam Masloski
Susan Ihne, executive editor of the St. Cloud Times, speaks on a panel about the Times´ coverage of the shooting in Cold Spring in the Atwood Memorial Center Theater Tuesday. The panel consisted of Times reporters and photographers that were involved in the coverage.
"Do we have a disaster plan? Eh, there might be one in a drawer somewhere," said St. Cloud Times executive editor Susan Ihne during Tuesday morning's panel discussion on media coverage of the Rocori High School shooting earlier this month.
Ihne was among a panel of St. Cloud Times journalists present in the Atwood Memorial Theater who spoke about the unanticipated task of covering traumatic events not only as journalists, but also as members of the community.
The SCSU chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) hosted the event. SPJ Board Assistant Scott Theisen arranged it and acted as the emcee.
The panel included Ihne, Times reporters Kelly Scott and Sarah Colburn and photography editor Dave Schwarz, all of whom covered the school shooting in Cold Spring and the events that followed first-hand.
They responded to a number of questions presented by SCSU community members in the audience as well as laid out the stage for the progression of events.
Throughout the discussion, the panel emphasized a necessary sense of morality toward covering a tragic event in the magnitude of the Rocori shooting, especially as local news.
"You have to be sensitive to the situation, not to step on toes," Colburn said.
Ihne, who has been with the Times for six and a half years, presented a notion that reporting and cautionary compassion walk a thin line in a time of breaking news.
"As journalists, we go into this automatic mode: don't think, just do," she said.
The Times had five reporters on the scene in its initial coverage. They gathered their first fragments of information by interviewing parents on the scene about where they were when they received the shocking information.
"It was difficult to know what exactly was going on," Kelly Scott said.
Scott was the second Times reporter on the scene in Cold Spring.
The reporting technique employed was to compile a timeline of the happenings from different perspectives.
"Chaotic," was how Schwarz described the situation when he arrived with his camera. He said he just started shooting anything and everything; it's automatic and you don't really think about it.
Schwarz had been with the St. Cloud Times for about one week when the shooting took place in Cold Spring.
The panel also discussed morality in determining what information and photographs to use.
Developing a line of credibility through naming those photographed, without hurting anybody's feelings was one the hardest tasks. Some photos were more obvious than others.
Deciphering who knew what and how was another trial in writing the reports.
"If people were interviewed by officers, I wanted to know what officer," Scott said.
Ihne admits the St. Cloud Times was slow to get the information on its Web site, but they wanted to make sure they had exact facts.
"We did not want to put up anything that was wrong," Ihne said.
The blitz of reporting was just the start to the St. Cloud Times coverage as day two brought more issues.
In the newsroom, the dilemma arose of whether or not to print the name of the suspect.
"I couldn't think of any reason not to name him," Ihne said.
Televised media, as well as some radio broadcasts, had already named the suspect. The issue the Times had was determining the information's credibility.
The headline for the breaking news story took an organized effort of editors and writers roughly 45 minutes to decide.
"Definitely not a time to be cute," Ihne said.
Ihne said they just tried to focus on the biggest thought of the day; "One student dead, one critical in Rocori shooting."
The main concern for the St. Cloud Times after the shooting was explaining to parents what was to come in terms of media participation.
Colburn said that after discussing the situation with Rocori High School superintendent Scott Staska, reporters from the Times were allowed to enter the school to cover the day after. Times reporters were the only ones allowed.
Staska, who was present at the panel discussion, offered to the crowd that he was happy with the way the Times covered the events that took place.
Reporters from all over were present at Cold Spring, including print, radio and television media.
"There was definitely different forms of etiquette from the different media," Scott said. "I mean that in the nicest way possible."
The panel addressed that everyone with the media seemed to be looking for some kind of new information that nobody else had.
The Times continued reporting the unraveling events that followed the Rocori shooting. The storyline stopped once the staff was able to sense a feeling of closure for the community, although Ihne believes that the Times may have run it on a few issues too many.
Regardless, the panel said they understood their position as the local perspective for the traumatic event and stood behind their work.
"Think about it at night, whether or not you're going to be proud of the job you've done," Colburn said in a closing comment.
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