Why This Journalist Is Offering a BIG Apology to Sutherland Springs for Church Shooting Coverage: "I Was Sickened"

Billy Hallowell : Nov 15, 2017
Faithwire

"For a moment I felt triumphant — I got the story — and in the next moment, sickened by my own arrogance." – Lauren McGaughy

(Dallas, TX) — [Faithwire.com] A journalist for The Dallas Morning News has released an open letter to residents of Sutherland Springs, Texas, apologizing for a media presence in the wake of the Nov. 5 mass shooting that she found over-the-top and inappropriate. (Photo Credit: Louis DeLuca/ Staff Photographer/ Dallas News)

Reporter Lauren McGaughy recalled how she and dozens of other reporters "descended" on the small town in the hours and days after the shooting, and lamented the climate and scenario that developed as a result.

"It was an invasion. It was too much," McGaughy wrote. "At the prayer vigil Sunday night, mourners clutching candles hugged each other and sobbed. The pictures were beautiful. What you didn't see was the scrum engulfing your friends and loved ones, photographers and reporters with iPhones jockeying to capture an image that didn't also include the media melee."

She continued, "I kept thinking there should be — there must be — a better way to cover a tragedy like this."

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