We try to make sense of the senseless
USA TODAY reporters respond to Dana Loesch, a spokesperson for the National Rifle Association, who recently commented that, “Many in legacy media love mass shootings, you guys love it.”
The year was 1996 and the Dunblane school massacre became the first mass killing I covered. It wouldn’t be the last — and I’ve hated every single one of them. During Dunblane, my assignment was to call the school and find out more details for a horrified world. Shocked at the task, I balked until my editor reminded me that it was my job to help the public understand. Provide trustworthy information. Put the incident in context. And hopefully, provide answers that might save lives the next time. Sadly, there has always been a next time.
The reality is that some days, the hardest thing a reporter must do is pick up the phone to call a grieving family. But that’s what we do. We don’t have the luxury of conspiracy theories or parroting talking points. We report. We cry. And we wrestle with our coverage decisions through sleepless nights, broken relationships and a seemingly unending parade of grief. Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY reporter Denver
I had never cried on the job until June 12, 2016.
I had talked to those who lost loved ones many times before, but seeing the grief mixed with uncertainty and fear in the early hours after the shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando was something I had never experienced.
This job is never easy. The continued coverage and search for answers gave us all nightmares and it was exhausting — both physically and emotionally — but I’ve never felt like my work was more important. My role was to try and make sense of something senseless, something that ripped my community and the rest of the nation apart. Christal Hayes, USA TODAY reporter McLean, Va.
I remind myself why I’m there: To let others know about the life of the victims, to ensure they’re never just a number in a death toll.
What each of those families have endured is immeasurably worse than what we reporters experience. There is no comparison. And I’ve never discussed my experiences publicly because the focus should always remain on those victims and the loved ones they left behind. But we just got accused of loving mass shootings, so we felt it was important to explain how we really feel. Alan Gomez, USA TODAY reporter Miami