I love journalism. I love my fellow journalists.

But as I pointed out in last week’s column on the media barrage faced by minister Britt Farmer after a deadly shooting at his Texas church, I believe we can do better — much better — in how we treat victims.

To help in that regard, I asked four highly respected news professionals — three of them Pulitzer Prize recipients — for advice. Everyone I’m quoting has extensive experience in this area and in making our profession proud.

Based on what they told me, here are seven tips for covering horrific events at houses of worship:

1. How you approach a victim is everything.

“Many mistakes are usually made in the initial approach when journalists are trying to get that quote or sound bite,” said Joe Hight, a Pulitzer-winning editor who is the Edith Kinney Gaylord Endowed Chair of Journalism Ethics at the University of Central Oklahoma. 

“It just doesn’t work like you’re at a public news conference or interviewing a public figure,” added Hight, who hired me at The Oklahoman in 1993 and oversaw our coverage of victims after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. “You are intruding upon private individuals in their most vulnerable moments. In these tragic situations, you have to ask the victims or family members for permission. You need to say, ‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ and mean it sincerely. You need to put yourself in the victim’s position of grief and despair after such a tragic situation.

“You need to determine whether the individual is even capable of talking to you at this point or whether you need to step away and approach later. How would you feel if you were asked that question? You don’t want to cause further harm or take advantage of someone in grief just for a quote or sound bite. How you approach will often determine what kind of interview you will get. Do it poorly, and you will possibly cause more damage.”

2. Think long and hard about your call to a victim (and if you really need to make it).

Sensitivity is so crucial.

Jennifer Berry Hawes, a Pulitzer-winning special projects writer for The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., can’t help but cringe at how some reporters behaved after the 2015 massacre at the Emanuel AME Church.  Nine African Americans were killed during a Wednesday night Bible study, while three victims survived.

“When I first spoke with the survivors of the Emanuel shooting, two of them told me stories that made me embarrassed for our business,” said Hawes, author of the book “Grace Will Lead Us Home: The Charleston Church Massacre and the Hard, Inspiring Journey to Forgiveness.”

“Polly Sheppard described a reporter climbing through the rose bushes in front of her house,” the journalist added. “Felicia Sanders, who survived the shooting by playing dead with her 11-year-old granddaughter in the blood of her loved ones, described her phone ringing off the hook with reporters (and others) calling her home when she arrived there the next morning. She described running from the cacophony to her shower where she folded up her bloody clothes and showered to wash away the crusted blood of her son and aunt. Can you imagine that in those moments, her phone was ringing with reporters?”

No, I can’t. 

Then again, given what I know about Farmer’s experience after he lost two close friends, I really can.

“In the aftermath of these horrific events, we really need to take a step back and ask ourselves: How important is it that we speak to this person right now?” Hawes said. “Sometimes, it is essential. But at other times, it's simply not.”

3. Whenever possible, go through an intermediary.

“Call a person's pastor or rabbi or imam, a friend, their attorney, a family member, a boss, a coworker, a neighbor, anyone who is close enough to approach the person on your behalf,” Hawes recommended.

“For one, I have found this makes the person much more likely to consider talking to you, especially if the intermediary will vouch for you. Second, a good intermediary is in a better position to know when and how to approach the person about an interview — and when not to. Approaching at a bad time can close that door to you for the long haul.”

Yonat Shimron, a national reporter and senior editor for Religion News Service, offered similar advice.

Continue reading “7 tips for reporters covering horrific events in houses of worship“ at Religion UnPlugged.