John McDonogh students' concerns about TV coverage of the two-year-old shootings are valid, says Loyola University communications professor Larry Lorenz. 'There is that tendency in television to focus on the terrible thing that happened,' Lorenz says. 'I know people in the news business would not go out and do a story saying, 'Sixty-five thousand students went to school today, without incident.' But when you have a situation like [McDonogh], why not go back and show how the school has been put back together so the public has a better-rounded view of the real situation?'
Roger Simpson, director of the Seattle-based Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, an international organization for reporters who cover violence, also underscores students' concerns. Research on the Columbine massacre and other life-threatening events are 'visual triggers' that activate memories of the tragedy, he says.
'When that memory gets activated, that person is back in the scene again,' Simpson says. 'They feel that same shock Š and they need to work their way out of it all over again.' The roughly 900 other students in school that day -- like Charles Sanville -- who were not witnesses to the murder but did witness the chaotic aftermath, may re-experience less severe symptoms of 'secondary trauma.'
Management of WDSU-TV, WWL-TV and WVUE-TV could not be reached by press time. But Bob Noonan, news director of WGNO/ABC26, defends the practice of using the old McDonogh tape to illustrate the crimes for which the remaining defendants are charged and to depict the recent history of school violence. 'We are trying to give perspective to the violence,' Noonan says.
WGNO uses images limited to security guards and parents gathering outside the school. 'My policy in my newsroom is we don't show blood,' he says. The station, which launched a regional pro-education initiative in January, also will continue to tell the story of how schools like McDonogh are improving, he says.
Simpson demurs when asked if he thought New Orleans TV stations should stop replaying the old McDonogh footage. However, he said it would seem that the 'news' now is that a lot of people who were at the school then have lived 2 years longer. 'The really interesting thing is where are they now?' Simpson says. Some people make life-changing decisions after a tragedy, he says. Some adopt a cause. Others continue to struggle with the psychological effects from the trauma.
"I think the most important story now is what happens afterwards, not what happened then," Simpson says.
