A firestorm of debate was set ablaze after the Rocky Mountain News dispatched a reporter to cover the funeral of a 3-year-old boy last Wednesday. The catch -- the reporter used Twitter to blog a play-by-play account of the funereal, a decision that left many people and even other newspapers crying foul.
It was one of those events where even the backlash set off a backlash with many people writing in comments to outraged newspaper columns reminding the papers that they have been just as guilty in the past. "So when the major networks focused live cameras on the Kennedy children, counted every tear, etc, that was 'Inappropriate' and 'outrageous'," writes "oldmoal" in a user comment to an article on ABC News.
Oldmoal brings up a good point, and one that is echoed throughout the blogosphere. The media should be wary of where they point their finger else the green goblin of hypocrisy will chew off their fingernail.
Of course, this doesn't put the Rocky Mountain News into the clear -- only into perspective. Personally, I don't think the idea to Twitter the funeral was nearly as offensive as the execution -- a play-by-play account of the funeral as if it were a sporting event. A better decision would have been to cover it as a memorial rather than a funeral -- Twitter about the boy's life and the words people have at his death, not "coffin lowered into ground" and "people gathering at graveside."