Leave the Travolta Family Alone

I am saddened to learn of the passing of a 16 year old man today. How does a family cope with this kind of loss? The death of young people just seems so difficult to understand. The Travolta family should be allowed its privacy in this time of grief.

When I was thirteen my family lost my twenty year old brother. Justin was full of life and promise. I saw from the inside how a family deals with this kind of event. Privacy is extremely important.

Years later, I was an intern at a local TV station and was invited to accompany a reporter on a morning story. A building fire had taken the life of a toddler. The reporter, who was well respected, didn't have to think twice about getting himself (and me and the camera) into the building and knocking on the residence door, hoping for an interview with the parents.
As I climbed the stairs in the building and smelled the aftermath of the fire I was sickened by the prospect of invading the parents' privacy. I hoped that they were not in. I thought of Justin and my own family as I climbed the steps. No one answered the door.

I was physically shaking when I came out of the building and felt nauseated. I knew that this kind of journalism was not for me.

It does seem, however, that to succeed in TV journalism you have to have this killer instinct to get the footage. "Good TV footage" at any cost.
But I think it doesn't have to be. A little respect for peoples' privacy in a time of mourning and loss is not a lot to ask of any professional.

I suppose this issue drives at the ethics of reporting and the ethical choices that professional journalists must make in the field.

The Travolta family is a family similar to any other family. Try to put yourself in their position if you can. I'll wager that any human being who does this will allow them their privacy and wish them peace in these tough times.

And every time the story appears on TV, just try to imagine the young 16-year-old's sibling trying to watch a little TV for comfort. No child deserves to be treated like that.

Maybe some day the media will wish peace on people by leaving them alone?