Colorado Springs media handled graphic Club Q court images differently
Plus, CBS News Colorado’s Black journalists talked about community news, and more
At least one news organization in Colorado’s second-largest city took heat this week for how it directed its audience to graphic images, including gruesome photos of victims.
The photos emerged when prosecutors entered exhibits into the public record during a court hearing about the November mass shooting at an LGBTQ+ club.
“I’m completely appalled at the local media outlets here in Colorado Springs that published some of the most graphic, horrific photos from the Club Q shooting,” KRCC Morning Edition Host and Reporter Abigail Beckman said on social media. “Have some decency. The families of the victims deserve better. You’re only furthering their trauma.”
Beckman said she first saw the images after clicking through a tweet from KKTV, the local CBS station, that carried an initial story with scant warnings and a link that led to images of the crime scene that included photos of dead victims at the club.
The story now comes with this editor’s note: “After a Club Q survivor reached out to KKTV 11 News, we chose to move the links to the external website to the bottom of this article. To clarify, KKTV 11 News did not publish these photos, they were made available to the public through the ‘Cases of Interest’ page run by the Colorado Judicial Branch.”
Interestingly, another note about a photo gallery the station created reads: “KKTV did not originally share the documents in this article, however because of feedback from our viewers we have added the documents to this article with redactions made by KKTV.” (In that gallery, the most graphic of the images are blacked out.)
Competitor KRDO published on its site a slideshow of what it called “a handful of the nearly 100 images released” and reported, “several of the following photos are graphic. Some images do include blood, bullet holes, casings, and the aftermath inside the club. KRDO however has chosen to omit any images depicting the victims.”
Like KKTV, the station did also direct readers to the full cache of exhibits should readers choose to see what’s in it. “Warning,” read a note that accompanied the link, “the document linked does contain photos of the victims.”
At KOAA, a story there included this language above a link to a tweet by the State Court Administrator’s Office:
The evidence presented by the prosecution and defense has been released to the public eye. That being said much of the imagery presented is extremely graphic in nature. News5 has made the decision to omit the imagery from this article, however, if you would like to view it, you can follow the link below. WARNING MANY OF THE IMAGES ARE DISTRESSING AND SOME FEATURE VICTIMS OF THE SCENE.
KOAA News Director Ryan Hazelwood says the newsroom had a conversation about how to handle the images and they didn’t take it lightly.
“We didn’t want to re-victimize victims by putting it out front and center for everyone,” he said. He added, however, that KOAA did want to make sure those who wanted to see the photos could — for transparency’s sake. He described the news-judgement process as “a lot of internal conversations as to who we are in this community and who we are as a station.”
A fourth station, FOX21 in the Springs, published a slideshow of some but not all of the bloody photos the 4th Judicial District Attorney entered into the public record and, notably, no link to the district attorney’s exhibits. The news item comes with a warning that the content “may be distressing to some readers” and “viewer discretion is strongly advised.”
FOX21’s story also carried this editor’s note: “It is the policy of FOX21 News to name the suspect of a mass shooting incident once and to show their image once. FOX21 News will refrain from doing so after the first instance, so as not to glorify their actions. Any articles on our website from outside sources may not reflect this policy.”
That policy differs from other Springs media and tracks a developing movement in journalism. (In recent years, some newsrooms have reduced the “frequency and prominence with which they name suspects in mass shootings,” NPR reported in 2021.)
In print world, The Gazette, the local daily newspaper, published a slideshow containing five images, none of them particularly graphic, headlined “PHOTOS: Evidence presented at Club Q shooting suspect Anderson Aldrich’s preliminary hearing.”
On Wednesday morning I reached out via email to the news directors at the four Springs TV stations asking about the extent to which they discussed how they would handle the court releasing such graphic images. I hoped it might be instructive for others in the future.
FOX21’s Joe Cole told me staff “started the conversation with, ‘we aren’t going to show pictures of the victims right!’” And he agreed, calling it a no-brainer. His station was the lone TV outlet not to spotlight a link to the court’s cache of images.
“The story can be told without those photos,” he said. “In all honesty, if someone wants to find those pictures, they will. It just won’t be on FOX21.”
Elana Newman, a professor of psychology at the University of Tulsa and the research director for the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University, agrees with Cole that photos like the ones released through the court process must have news value for a media outlet to publish a link to them — especially if they are graphic and would cause harm or be insensitive to survivors.
Unless there is such news value to particular photos — images, for instance, that increase understanding or add a new angle to the article — “I advise journalists to think carefully about the ethics and purpose,” Newman said.
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Speaking of differences in coverage…
As local news organizations in Colorado and elsewhere re-think how they do their journalism and the extent to which it could harm people or communities, you will see them report things in different ways according to their values.
For instance, consider this line that appeared in a story this week about what police said was an attempted carjacking (four cars in nine minutes, apparently) during which an armed woman repeatedly fired at and missed multiple people: “The Denver Post is not identifying the woman because of the nature of the case.”
But FOX31, CBS Colorado, and 9NEWS in Denver had no qualms about publishing the suspect’s name in the second paragraph of their own stories.
In the digital age, some news organizations have committed to covering all “crime” cases through their adjudication if they choose to name a suspect since the Internet never forgets.
“Those cases typically involve alleged crimes with a broad community impact or in which someone was hurt or killed,” said Shelly Bradbury who reported The Denver Post story. “This attempted carjacking case did not rise to that level of coverage.”
CBS News Colorado’s Black journalists talked about community news
Last week, this newsletter spotlighted a broadcast conversation among six Black journalists at 9NEWS, Denver’s NBC affiliate. The conversation was raw to say the least.
Not long after, CBS News Colorado broadcast a roundtable discussion among six of its own Black journalists at the station.
“Building a newsroom that is reflective of our community has been a decades-long commitment at CBS News Colorado and we are better able to connect with our viewers and offer more insightful coverage,” anchor Michelle Griego said in the lead-in to the special segment of Elevating Black Voices.
Some takeaways:
Justin Adams, who covers news and sports and is from the Montbello neighborhood of Denver, said, “when I grew up, the only time that you knew you were going to see media was either when the football team did well or when somebody got killed.” He said as a journalist he wanted to be the voice of his community.
“I think the company is actually working to make newsrooms more diverse,” said Kevin Hartfield, the station’s chief photographer who has worked there for 38 years.
Kimberly Abeyta, an information technology engineer, said she comes to work at the station with the goal of striving to represent Black women and girls. “We’re good at math, we’re good at science, we’re good at building things,” she said, adding, “you want to make sure that our technology is not racist.”
Producer Breanna Moody said taking a college class about how media affects how we think about race and gender gave her a different perspective. She talked about how important it is to consider “what your words are saying.”
“You’re representing. Own who you are. Be proud of that,” said First at 4 Weekday Anchor Mekialaya White when asked about advice she would give others hoping to get in the business.
Watch the whole thing here.
On social media, Tamara Dunn, digital strategist for The Denver Post, who is a Black woman, applauded the Denver TV journalists at 9NEWS and CBS News Colorado for “getting together for roundtables” recently. “Unfortunately,” she said, “it would be a one-person discussion at The Post.”
FCC wants to review hedge fund ownership deal linked to 9NEWS
A division of the federal agency that regulates broadcasters wants to hold hearings into a plan by a hedge fund to buy Tegna, the company that owns 9NEWS in Denver.
The hedge fund, Standard General, called the move “tantamount to denying” the deal, Reuters reported. Lengthy hearings, the wire service added, “have historically led deals to collapse.”
The FCC’s Media Bureau wants an administrative law judge to review the TV takeover in a setting that is “similar to a trial, with witnesses and evidence,” Poynter’s TV guru Al Tompkins said.
In recent years, hedge fund and private equity involvement in mergers and acquisitions (read: murders and executions) of major newspaper companies have been followed by deep staff cuts, reduced print runs, sold or leased buildings — and less local news. (We have seen that in Colorado with devastating results.)
Standard General “has consistently confirmed that its plans for post-closing Tegna do not involve station-level layoffs,” the company has told Reuters.
Still, “As part of the FCC’s mission, we are responsible for determining whether grant of the applications constituting this transaction serves the public interest,” FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said, according to Broadcasting + Cable. “That’s why we’re asking for closer review to ensure that this transaction does not anti-competitively raise prices or put jobs in local newsrooms at risk.”
Local media panel March 10 in Denver
“Armed with a First Amendment mandate to hold the powerful to account, the media has long shaped American attitudes about civic institutions, fairness, and democracy itself.”
So reads an announcement for an upcoming media panel in Denver hosted by the Herrick Roth Community Seminars on Democracy, a series of the Center for Policy and Democracy at the University of Colorado Denver.
More, from Colorado Media Project, which underwrites this newsletter:
How do members of Colorado’s press corps view and cover the state of American democracy today, at the local, state and national levels? Which angles, stories and voices are journalists amplifying, and what impact do those choices have on the narratives that shape our conversations on democracy? What is the role of modern journalism, in supporting a more functional and inclusive public square — both online and offline?
On the panel will be 9NEWS Anchor Kyle Clark, Colorado Public Radio News Director Andrew Villegas, Chalkbeat CEO and Founder Elizabeth Green, and El Comercio de Colorado Publisher Jesus Sanchez.
I will moderate it along with Colorado Media Project Director Melissa Davis. RSVP by March 3.
🌿 This week’s newsletter is proudly supported in part by Grasslands, Denver’s Indigenous-owned PR, marketing, and ad agency that is thankful for the tireless work reporters do to bring our communities the stories that matter. Founded by veteran Denver Post journalist Ricardo Baca, Grasslands — the recipient of a 2020 Denver Business Journal Small Business Award — is a Journalism-Minded Agency™ working with brands in highly regulated industries including cannabis, technology, and real estate. Operating from its new offices in Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe, the firm’s 20-person team of communications professionals is focused on a single mission: “We tell stories, build brands and amplify value.” Email hello@mygrasslands.com to see how Grasslands can supercharge your brand’s marketing program (and read some of our cannabis journalist Q&As here). 🌿
More Colorado media odds & ends
⬆️ The board of the National Freedom of Information Coalition this week elected Jeff Roberts, who is executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, as its president. “Roberts succeeds David Cuillier, an associate professor at the University of Arizona School of Journalism, who has served as NFOIC president since 2019.”
🎢 Colorado Sun columnist Mario Nicolais published a piece headlined “Five years since the Denver Post Rebellion, Colorado journalism has had its ups and downs” that came with the subhed “While the state has lost some terrific reporters, there are plenty of reasons to believe local journalism will continue to thrive.” (This newsletter got a very kind shoutout.)
☀️ Former Durango Herald reporter Shannon Mullane has joined The Colorado Sun as its water reporter.
⛔️ Colorado newspapers were among hundreds of others across the country this week to yank the “Dilbert” comic strip from their pages after cartoonist Scott Adams said white people should “get the hell away from” Black people in America. Those Colorado papers include “all Prairie Mountain Media papers,” Boulder Daily Camera reporter Mitchell Byars said on social media.
💨 Sentinel Colorado Managing Editor Kara Mason is leaving after five years at the weekly newspaper. “There’s no better place for a reporter than Aurora, truly, so it’s a little bittersweet that this is my last week,” she said. “I’m taking some time and then on to the next!”
📵 “Researchers at Colorado College conducted a study with teenage girls, and found that just three days off social media led to significant improvements in body image,” CBS News Colorado’s Anna Alejo reported.
📖 Colorado journalist and author Jason Van Tatenhove’s book “The Perils of Extremism: How I Left the Oath Keepers and Why We Should be Concerned about a Future Civil War,” is now out. The Washingtonian’s Luke Mullins spoke with him about a “war of storytelling” happening in the country.
❌ Last week’s newsletter included an item in this roundup about local TV stations doing solutions journalism “including in Colorado.” The station in question, though, was actually a TV station in Texas reporting on a Colorado program. I didn't immediately recognize the call letters KXAN and thought it was perhaps one of the ones on the Western Slope, meaning to double-check. I didn’t. It’s like looking in the side mirror and out the windows after your rearview mirror before changing lanes on the highway. Just do it. My bad.
👹 “It was wonderful working with the school administration. They were very nice and they understood Constitutional law under the First Amendment and we got approved fairly quickly,” said the campaign director for Colorado’s first-ever After School Satan Club for K-8, according to KVNF.
😱 The most un-sensationalized headline of the week.
💨 “As you read this, my time as editor of The [Tri-Lakes] Tribune has passed,” wrote Michelle Karas who edits Pikes Peak Newspapers. “I start a new job in the nonprofit sector this week and The Tribune will soon have another name on the masthead.”
⚙️ The Boulder Reporting Lab is hiring a general assignment reporter and newsletter writer it will pay $40,000 to $50,000. “Cool people. Modern newsroom that’s growing, not shrinking,” says founder and publisher Stacy Feldman.
➡️ The Golden Transcript’s examination of its racist past “came as a part of a broader effort in Colorado to improve Black people's trust in mainstream media,” John Frank reported for Axios Denver. “Publisher Linda Shapley said confronting past discrimination was the top recommendation from community leaders.”
🚔 Dave Danforth, a founder of Aspen Daily News, penned a column for the paper this week about the founder of the national digital company Ozy Media being arrested on fraud charges. Danforth headlined the column “The arrogance of new media companies.”
🎙 Sixty35 Media investigative journalist Pam Zubeck talked on a podcast about the story behind the story of her recent exposé in the Springs about a local church and an airplane hangar.
🛑 Colorado College, where I teach, “will no longer cooperate” in the U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges” ranking. College President L. Song Richardson called the ranking “deeply flawed.”
📢 “If you call out the mainstream media for ‘lies’ all while following people who suggest the war in Ukraine is fake and that people are dropping dead left and right from the vaccine,” 9NEWS journalist Chris Vanderveen said on social media, “then I can say for certain you’re not terribly interested in journalism.”
📚🚫 The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition will hold a March 16 conversation about book banning for Sunshine Week. Rachael Johnson, the Colorado-based attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, is moderating. Register in-person here or to view it online here.
I’m Corey Hutchins, co-director of Colorado College’s Journalism Institute. For nearly a decade I’ve reported on the U.S. local media scene for Columbia Journalism Review, and I’ve been a journalist for longer at multiple news organizations. Colorado Media Project is underwriting this newsletter, and my “Inside the News” column appears at COLab, both of which I sometimes write about here. (If you’d like to underwrite this newsletter like CMP, Grasslands, Colorado Press Association, One Chance to Grow Up, AAA Colorado, and GFM|CenterTable, hit me up.) Follow me on Twitter, reply or subscribe to this weekly newsletter here, or e-mail me at CoreyHutchins [at] gmail [dot] com.