The murderous attack on the Maryland newspaper was horrible, but sadly it was not surprising. I would hazard to guess that there isn't a newspaper in the country that hasn't had threats of violence from time to time.
Occasionally folks will take offense with us when we report on the happenings in their lives. Especially when those happenings occur in court or involve the authorities in some form or fashion. Fortunately, most of these threats are simply the idle rants of temporarily upset individuals.
Over my 25-plus years in the newspaper business, I have seen and dealt with my share of upset people. Those encounters have ranged from people just letting me know in a calm tone how they didn't enjoy the coverage they received in the newspaper, to people actually threatening to do bodily harm to me.
Probably the most disturbing one was the time a gentleman described the vehicle I was driving and where it was parked at that particular time and how it would be a shame if something happened to my brakes.
You learn to take these things in stride after a while and try your best to not let them affect you. The thing that I have found the most bewildering about many of these incidents over the years is that a large majority of these upset folks have never read the story that they are so mad about. Most of them have been told by someone about it or read the first few lines of the story on our website or seen something posted on social media. In many cases, when I have shown them the story in its entirety, they calm down and see that we did tell the whole story, both sides.
One time a lady came into my office in Paragould and she was very, very upset about a story that had ran the previous day concerning her son stealing $1,300 in cash. She was fit to be tied, screaming profanities at me and telling me that her boyfriend was on his way and would be delivering the newspaper to an area of my body that doesn't see much sunlight. Through all of her cursing, I was finally able to get her to tell me her son's name. I immediately recognized it as a young man that we had definitely written a story about. However, the story had been about how her son had found a wallet with $1,300 cash in it and returned the wallet to the home of the gentleman that had lost it.
Turns out this lady had been estranged from her family for a couple of years and had just been told by someone that they had "heard" that her son was in the newspaper for stealing $1,300 in cash. To her credit, I guess, the lady was unapologetic. As I was walking her out, she said she was just defending her son and would do it again in a heartbeat. Just as we reached the front door, a rather large, red-faced gentleman arrived, her boyfriend. Luckily for me, she explained the situation to him before he had a chance to make his delivery.
Those five people who had their lives taken from them at the Capital Gazette were doing their jobs. Jobs that aren't glamorous, but none the less are very important.
American publisher Henry Luce said, "I became a journalist to come as close as possible to the heart of the world."
Most journalists do what they do not for fame or fortune, but out of a strong sense of obligation. Obligation to their fellow man. True, honest journalism changes the world for the better. Journalists want to make the world a better place for everyone, including the folks who hate them.
I didn't personally know the individuals that were killed, but I think this quote from the Bible epitomizes the five souls lost in Maryland.
"Let all that you do be done in love," 1 Corinthians 16:14.
Editorial on 07/08/2018