Tragedy no place for insensitivity or sensationalism

THE popular perception of journalists is that they are all heartless reptiles who would sell their own grandmothers to get the story. The cut-throat competitiveness of the industry and the constant contact with tragedy inure us to normal human feelings and mean that we are emotional cripples not suited for polite society, but destined to languish in the fourth estate.

In my experience, the opposite is true. The job does mean that we do have to deal with people who have suffered great tragedy in their life, and we come along usually at exactly the worst time, when every feeling is still raw. There are some parts of...