Covering tragedy is never easy.
Most journalists will tell you dealing with grieving families is the worst part of the job.
Knowing someone is going through tremendous grief and respecting that while at the same time acknowledging that covering the news means covering both the good and the bad can be difficult.
It helps when families understand that.
The loss of the Evan and Amanda Lodge in a tragic car accident drove that home. There are few things more tragic than the loss of a child.
The Lodge family was not contacted directly. They were going through too much and the situation was evolving.
They used a sharing blog to relay messages to the many who cared, rather than have to relive the process over and over again in conversations.
Greg Lodge actually reached out to GuelphToday, thanking us for the story we had written and updating us on the situation, presumably grateful that someone other than he and his wife were the ones keeping people informed.
Greg then let us know about last Friday’s lantern vigil outside Evan and Amanda’s school. He gave us permission to be there, asked for a couple of courtesies, including no video and no photos of his wife.
He later thanked us for the way Troy Bridgeman, who covered the event, handled the story. Greg asked me to pass thanks on to Troy for his work.
I was touched that someone going through such grief would make such a gesture and it helped reinforce what I have found to be true many times in the past, that most loved ones want their lost ones remembered the right way. They want their stories told.
That they are more than a name and an age in a police report.
