Some of your thoughts on the tragic shooting death of Orlando Reporter Dylan Lyons.

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Greetings, Scott…
Needless to say the jobs that these men and women in the news industry do is at times thankless and other times dangerous. I’m sure that when these news teams roll out and head to a story they probably never think that there is a level of danger to them when reporting these stories. Yet under the Trump Administration the horrifying bias towards reporters and the media was so intense that it required news reporters to drive around in unmarked vehicles to avoid possible harm (though let’s be honest some of the van having the live satellite mounts on top still made for a bulls-eye some zealots had no qualms targeting for their vitriol and violence.
It was scary to think 8 years ago that WDBJ reporter Allison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward would be senselessly ambushed and murdered by a disgruntled former employee while on a live shoot to cover a basic human interest story. Many of us probably thought this was just a random act that would probably never ever happen again.
Today, we have been proven wrong.
A callous monster, who had already brutally murdered a woman, decided to ambush a Spectrum News 13 reporter and cameraman who were dispatched to report on that murder. The reporter was killed and the cameraman is in the hospital and then he mercilessly murdered a 9-year-old girl. This monster is now in police custody and is facing a litany of charges not the least of which is 3 counts of first-degree murder and one attempted murder charge.
But to see how the senseless killing of one of their own has affected news people from across Florida and even around the country is heart-rending. Reporters who are seemingly the stoic and seemingly automaton-like readers of scripts and notes have shown emotion as they once again are being shown how mortal they truly are. Shiba Russell of WTXF Fox 29 in Philly had to hold back tears to try and report this story during the 10pm newscast.
We all hope that this absolute MONSTER faces the justice that he deserves but this shows that station managers and personalities need, no DESERVE, to take a good hard look at how they are treated and how safe they truly are out in the field and make whatever necessary changes need to be made to find a way to ensure this tragedy NEVER happens again.

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The death of Dylan Lyons and the critical wounding of Jesse Walden are tragic, and while the assailant--and the assailant alone--is to blame, some critical questions need to be asked of Spectrum News, the industry in general, and all of us who work in it. Such as: When this team was sent to the scene of a fatal shooting--with the shooter still at large--did the station provide security? If not, why not? If the team had asked for protection or expressed concerns about being in the location without it, how would the station have responded? Did the team feel that they could ask for security or even decline the assignment if they felt unsafe? If not, why not? Station owners, managers and employees need to be thinking this way. Too many are not, and at a time when journalists are being targeted with more than just hateful rhetoric, this needs to be part of the conversation in every newsroom, among every journalist, and on every assignment. I have been a reporter in the field for more than 40 years. It is different these days. And while it is still the greatest job in the world, it is not worth losing one's life over--especially if it is because a station owner, general manager, news director or assignment editor decided to cheap out.

I hope you’ll consider the above angle as you continue to cover this horrific story.

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