On January 26, Kobe Bryant (along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven other people) died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
Unfortunately, this means that Vanessa Bryant and her other three children lost their father/husband and sister/daughter all in one day. But that's not even the worst part.
The worst part about this whole situation by far is the fact that TMZ reported this news BEFORE Bryant's family was notified by the authorities. When I found this out, I was not only saddened, but I was angry. This decision is completely unethical on TMZ's part.
Just imagine seeing that one of your family members died on social media before being informed yourself. I can't even imagine what they must be going through right now in such a traumatic time. My thoughts and prayers go out to them at this time.
Not only is this traumatic for the family to go through, but it's completely inappropriate. TMZ reported this news without the confirmation of Bryant's death from the Los Angeles Police Department and were later scolded by them.
Just before you get to thinking that TMZ was the only "news" outlet that was disrespectful this weekend, there's plenty of others. ABC News reported false information saying that Bryant and all four of his children were on the helicopter when it crashed. BBC News showed a video of LeBron James instead of Bryant when covering his death.
The way breaking news is released needs to change now.
The news today is so concerned about getting news out first that it lost concern of whether or not it's true. If any of these news outlets were ethical, they would've reported on the situation after the family was notified and once they had all of the information they needed in order to make a truthful news story.
As a public relations major learning about the ethics behind the news, it was so shocking to see these unethical actions take place that I'm told shouldn't be happening in the first place.
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