What happens when a TV news department stops covering the news?

We're about to find out Today.

The 911 tapes from the Sandy Hook School shooting are going to be released Today, but even without listening to them, WVIT in Hartford has said they are not going to air the tapes.

The station posted this on their Facebook Page:

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Across town, WFSB management has announced the station's news team will not be in Newtown on December 14th to mark the one year anniversary of the shooting. Instead, each day leading up to the 14th, the station is profiling those who died in the shooting.

On the surface, both these actions seem like they are moves that the station is making out of compassion and respect for the victims.

FTVLive thinks it's the wrong move. News stations need to cover the news and sometimes it is the ugly part of the job. Not every story is a puppy wash and unicorns.

If a group of Hartford high school kids are killed this weekend by a drunk driver, are the Hartford stations going to cover the story?

What if 5 kids were in the car that was hit by the drunk driver and the kids parents said they don't want the story on the news?

Out of compassion, would the Hartford stations NOT cover the story?

If they do cover it, is that fair they honored the parents request at Sandy Hook, but did not honor these parents request?

I get that Sandy Hook is a very sensitive story and emotions are very high. But, by not covering the story you are taking the news department down a slippery slope.

Covering news is not always pretty and sometimes the job sucks, but the bottom line, it is your job.

The Hartford stations are making the wrong call.

Just saying....