Quick Take
News decisions can be tough and debatable. Lookout reported a story of a tragic incident in downtown Santa Cruz diligently and sensitively, balancing the public’s need to know with privacy concerns. Here is our thinking.
Today, we published a story that some in our community asked us not to write.
It’s a tragic story of a horrific self-immolation incident that occurred on the streets of downtown Santa Cruz. Tragedy is always painful, and we at Lookout take our responsibility for reporting on it seriously. We know the family is anguished, as is the community of those affected, and we certainly do not want to cause them more distress. Yet, we also feel compelled to cleave to our primary mission – of informing you, our readers, of stories and events that affect the community.
And this story does affect the community.
We know this incident unfolded very much in public, possibly a symbolic act of protest. Standing near city hall on the day of the second Trump inauguration, which also coincided with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, one person lit himself on fire. He was extinguished by firefighters while standing on the Black Lives Matter mural in front of city hall. Eyewitnesses saw it happen in broad daylight. If these acts occurred in private, behind closed doors, in a backyard, out of public view, this discussion would be different. But they didn’t.
We feel compelled to tell you this happened, to report such tragedies as thoroughly as we can and to try to make sense of these troubling acts. That is what journalists do, covering the good, the bad and sometimes deeply distressing. That’s the role of a free press, a press that is under pressure in so many ways across the country.
Certainly, here, as in many stories Lookout has published over four years, we balance the public’s right to know against perceived or real harm a story might cause. On this story, and on many others, we had deep discussions in the newsroom and with sources to make sure we believe we are finding the right balance.
Some in the community have asked us to keep this story private. But, to do so – to withhold information about our community from you, to give into pressure, including threats to stop supporting us – would be counter to our mission and would break the trust you have put in us over the past four years.
Our correspondents worked on this story painstakingly to both bring you as much context as possible and to take into account individual and community sensibilities. We reached out to activists and the family of those involved. We asked BIPOC community leaders for their thoughts.
In short, we worked hard to get this story right and to tell it with sensitivity.
After much discussion, we have decided not to publish the name of the person hospitalized after the city hall incident. We do this in deference to family concerns. While we feel it’s important for you to know this public tragedy happened, we understand the family’s current need for privacy.
Given how fragmentary information on the incident has been, we’ve taken our time to get it right for you. We’re publishing a week after it occurred, as an indication of our care.
Finally, in a letter outlining opposition to Lookout publishing this story, some expressed the belief that we would financially gain from publishing this story or from how many people read it. Our journalists – out there every day informing you – get paid by you through membership and by businesses and nonprofits who advertise with us. We are not publishing this to cause a sensation. And with this story, as we did on election, pandemic and the January 2023 storm coverage, we publish it with free access for all.
In the end, we publish it because that’s what we do: tell our community what’s happening.
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