Baltimore murder victims deserve same attention given Capital Gazette's

Since the horrific shootings in Annapolis, The Baltimore Sun has run front page stories related to that crime on 10 of the last 13 days (“Capital Gazette’s John McNamara eulogized as exemplary reporter who loved sports, community journalism,” July 10). During that time, there have been at least nine shooting deaths in Baltimore, usually resulting in a brief notes on page 4 or 5, usually without names (“Man killed, woman injured in double shooting in Penn North — among five people shot in Baltimore Tuesday,” July 11).

I understand the importance of the shootings at the Capital Gazette, that these were your colleagues and that this crime represents larger sub-currents in our society. I understand that your editorial staff shared little with the people shot on the streets of Baltimore while those in Annapolis were your professional brothers and sisters. But I have to wonder: Is the memorial service of a journalist really more newsworthy than the death of a fellow Baltimorean? Is a shooting at a newspaper really more heinous than the violence occurring daily on our streets? Are we really so numb?

On June 30, The Sun ran pictures of the Annapolis victims under the headline “They’re Irreplaceable.” I wish the same were offered to the other victims of violence who died this week. They were not journalists, not important people, and not well known to the editors of The Sun, but they, too, were irreplaceable.