The Sunshine State of Florida has become our American national bellwether, and certainly not in a perfect way, I should add.
Another shooting, this time a TV news crew has been shot while covering an earlier shooting. One journalist is dead. The other newsman is critical as of this posting. Fellow journalists rushed to help the crew that was shot. Then a mother and 9-year-old were shot. The 9-year-old didn't survive.
There will be a lot of debate over safety protocols in newsrooms over this. There should be. But I will also bring up something I am begging #tvnews managers not to overlook and control the availability of firearms for anyone with mental health issues.
Keith Melvin Moses, 19, has been charged with murder and is expected to face more charges in later shootings that killed two others, according to police.
The fact is that covering news is getting riskier. Every journalist will face a story that will haunt them. They all deserve to have expert guidance on how to handle their trauma. Journalists are less safe. The shooting occurred near The Magic Kingdom, the happiest place on earth. Meanwhile, they have been laying off thousands, but more is below.
Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons killed in Pine Hills shooting https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2023/02/22/police--shots-fired…
Journalist, 9-year-old dead; 2 others hurt in Orlando shooting, sheriff says
https://www.wesh.com/article/orlando-news-crew-shot/43033137
Florida TV journalist and child shot dead at the scene of earlier murder
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64740209
Florida shooting spree leaves three people dead, including a child and a TV news employee covering one of the shootings
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/22/us/shooting-florida-orange-county/index…