Columbine senior Matt Carmichael hugs a friend after he escaped the tragedy at Columbine. Campus Press Graphics Editor Chip Litherland took the photo, which ran full page on the cover.

Tragedy 1001
Columbine massacre teaches
hard lessons of disaster coverage

By Tara McLain

It's not every day that CNN calls asking for help. But it wasn't an ordinary day. On April 20, two students entered Columbine High School in Littleton and forever etched the memory of that date into the hearts and minds of their peers.

Before the frightened Columbine students were safe from danger, the eyes of America, and soon the world, were watching.

Viewers, listeners and Web surfers were quickly captivated by the tragic events unfolding before them, hungry for knowledge of a conclusion to the madness. Immediately, every journalist in the area recognized the significance, and the horror, of the story.

Students of CU's School of Journalism and Mass Communication were no exception. Though it was difficult to cope with such a story so early in their careers, many students involved in covering the story found they came away with valuable experience and the bittersweet taste of hard-news journalism.

Within an hour of the stories breaking, adjunct instructor and former CNN producer and reporter Vicky Sama and several of her NewsTeam Boulder students were on their way to the scene with instructions from CNN to assist its crew, also en route. The students arrived equipped with threecameras and a few vague details about what had occurred. None were prepared for the reality of what had happened.

"It was really hard at first," said Dan Perlet, a senior Broadcast News major. "I've done internships before where I've covered similar stories, but this was totally different. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, and it just kept going all day."

Though the footage that Perlet shot was fed to CNN and put on the air, the reality of the event was overwhelming at times.

"I guess it's something I have to get used to," he said. "Sticking a microphone in someone's face when they're in that situation is difficult."

Photo by Lucas Gilman

Broadcast News seniors Andrew Goss and Julie Hong conduct interviews in Littleton the day after the shootings at Columbine High School.

Sama said her students' performance was remarkable, and they got to work in first-class editing facilities set up by CNN at a Denver-area hotel. But they also had to endure long hours and lousy weather to get a story in which the human element took the biggest toll.

"I did get calls from two or three students in tears over the experience," she said.

However grim the situations were, they nonetheless provided experience. Assistant Dean Steve Jones, who teaches TV production, noted that the students involved were learning lessons they couldn't get in a classroom.

"It's great experience for them," he said. "The students haven't been exposed to this kind of thing, but they have to if they want to stay in broadcasting."

Jones also said that the students were tenuous at first but became more comfortable with interviewing victims as the day wore on.

One was Josh Rymes, a senior Broadcast News major. Rymes said he found it difficult to cover the misfortunes of others.

"One thing I learned was that you don't want to stick a camera in a crying person's face, but you have to get used to it," he said.

Sama worked with the students at the scene of the shooting to help them understand when and how to approach the traumatized students and family members.

Rymes said that he noticed people react in different ways to the media during a crisis situation.

"I talked to a lot of parents and kids who didn't want to be interviewed," he said. "But then there were also some kids who were very media-savvy. I don't know if it was just part of their generation or if it was because they had been on TV all day and were used to it."

Whatever the case, more than one student noticed that they connected with the high schoolers with more ease than the older, professional journalists.
"I think the students were a little more comfortable talking to me than some guy in a suit with a TV camera behind him," said photographer Chip Litherland, a junior fine arts major and graphics editor for the Campus Press. "There were a lot of other photographers out there and I felt inadequate at times, but it was OK because I felt more comfortable with students."

Other photographers from the School, including News-Editorial majors Matt Chavez, a junior, and Lucas Gilman, a senior, photographed the story extensively in hopes of having their work picked up by print news media. Gilman, covering the April 25 memorial service in Littleton attended by Vice President Al Gore and an estimated 75,000 people, took a photo that ran on the front page of The Denver Post.

Like many students at the School, Litherland found himself driving to the high school as soon as he heard about the shootings. "I had no idea that it was going to be that big," he said. "It was mayhem."

Litherland went to Leawood Elementary to photograph students reuniting with their loved ones. However, despite the emotions shown by the family members happy to see each other once again, Litherland still felt awkward asking people for their names.

"I definitely don't want to go through anything like that again anytime soon," he said.

Litherland also noted that he had to call Kevin Moloney ('87), the School's adjunct photojournalism instructor, later that night with a list of questions about what actions are prudent in such a situation.

"I had to ask how to deal with it," Litherland said. "How do you separate yourself from the event?"

Despite his apprehensions, Litherland managed to take some good photos that ran in a package in the weekly Campus Press the next day.

The frenzy of journalists arriving on the scene didn't make his job any easier.

"I was astounded by how much media were there," he said. At one point he found himself at a vigil standing between Dan Rather and Peter Jennings.

Beth DeFalco, a senior News-Editorial major who was interning at The Denver Post, also felt caught up in the swarm of journalists scrambling for information at the scene.

"The interesting thing about the whole situation is that you're working so fast that it doesn't hit you until you talk to the families," DeFalco said. "When you work at a big paper like this you hope for a big story, but you don't want anything like this."

While most of the students involved in the coverage felt intrusive during such a time of pain, they admitted that the unique situation provided them with experience they could draw from later in their careers.

On the other hand, some weren't so interested in gaining experience from such a tragedy.

John Ingold, junior News-Editorial major and editor of the Campus Press, was just putting the finishing touches on a long-planned package that was to go to print the next day when he heard that Litherland had gone to the high school.

At the eleventh hour, Managing Editor Peter Jakel, Campus Editor Ryan Mayo and Ingold tore up the paper and instead ran Litherland's photo of two teen-agers consoling each other on the cover. Other dramatic photos ran inside.

Staff members also managed to track down and interview some Columbine High graduates who attend CU.

"It's not like I want this to be on the cover," Ingold said. "For some people it's a big career move, and I think we are doing a good thing in covering the campus reaction, but it's still a sad thing. Fifteen people died."

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