Today I was at work and while I was working one of my coworkers asked me to come over to her desk. There we were standing around her computer looking at the Wesh Channel 2 news page. the clicks on a video that reads ” Police Raid Apartment RAW VIDEO”. She pressed play and as I watched the screen I was in complete shock of what I saw. In the 30 second video the UCF Police raided a dorm room in Tower 1 and on the floor was a body. An officer walked in, made sure he was dead and then left.
For those who are unfamiliar with the recent incident this week. A man committed suicide in Tower 1 on early Monday morning. UCF police had to evacuate the entire building to make sure the scene was cleared. In the young mans room they found a rifle and homemade explosives that were apparently supposed to be used for an attack on the school. As a journalist I understand that the story was breaking news and every journalist in the area was striving to get the exclusive footage. I’m not sure how they got ahold of the footage of the raid but I think it’s unethical to show video of the deceased without the families permission.
This event was traumatizing for everyone. It was traumatizing for the UCF community and I believe it’s safe to say it was traumatizing for the family of the deceased. I can only imagine what they are going through right now knowing that the body of their family member is being shown to the world. I understand that every station wants a competitive edge, but some information should be kept private. I believe if the information is an important piece of information to the story than publish or broadcast it, but if it’s extra fluff that doesn’t add anything to the story than it should not be put on air.