WDBJ’s Kim McBroom, Jeffrey Marks and Kelly Zuber
The president and general manager of WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia hopes the murders of his two employees don’t scare journalists away from doing their jobs. In a live conversation with Poynter’s News University, Jeffrey Marks looked into the camera and said he wanted to get on his “high horse” for a moment.
“The job of a journalist is to investigate,” he said. “It requires brave people, whether you’re going out into the fields of Afghanistan or into city hall. And that is what we need. It’s not about being on television. It’s not about being on radio. It’s not about getting that byline. It’s about the responsibility of the Fourth Estate… Make sure to align your goals with the tradition of investigation, finding out the truth and helping people understand the world as a result.”
It was Marks who went on the air to announce his staff members’ deaths on Aug. 26. Marks, a journalist with decades of experience, said before he went on the air that morning he recalled a sad day when NBC anchor Tim Russert died. The network called upon Tom Brokaw to deliver the news.
“Brokaw went on air and his first few words were, ‘it’s my sad duty to report…’ Those are the words I started with,” Marks said.
WDBJ morning anchor Kim McBroom was on the air when a former employee gunned down reporter Alison Parker and photojournalist Adam Ward. It was McBroom who was caught startled when the director cut away from the live shot to the studio.
“In that moment, I did not realize that my friends had been shot,” she said. “I did not think that at all…All these different scenarios were playing in my head. That was not one of them.”
Viewers and journalists have asked how she could stay on the air, cooly reporting the events of the day and anchoring as usual the next morning.
“It’s something that you hope you never have to deal with, but like with any traumatic situation, you’ve got to dig down deep and do your job,” McBroom said.
Marks told the NewsU audience that just weeks before the shooting, the station had undergone safety training including “situational awareness training” taught by local police. Because of that training, in the moments after the shooting, Marks said the newsroom staff moved away from the station’s windows and journalists working alone in bureaus were told to come to the station, since the shooter was still on the loose and nobody knew if there would be more violence.
WDBJ News Director Kelly Zuber said the shooting has changed the way the station thinks about “going live.” The station, she said, has received many disturbing online threats since the killings, and there was even a disturbing online conversation that claimed the whole incident was a big hoax.
For now, Zuber said, the station’s liveshots are mostly from sites that are inside, like a recent live report from a fire station. In the days after the shootings, WDBJ staff learned to be hyper-vigilant about safety. Â
“We had photographers out there shooting at the same time and the rest of the media was coming up very close behind them, and that was unnerving,” she said. “And that was just because of what we’d been through.”
Zuber said the experience gave her insights about her company, her station, her employees and even her competitors. Schurz Communications, the station’s owners, called in journalists from other stations in the group to help WDBJ. The group’s senior vice president, Marcia Burdick, even worked an overnight shift as a producer.
Zuber has said things to her co-workers recently she would never had said before.
“I have told co-workers I love them,” she said. “It opened my eyes that we’ve got to know the people around us and we’ve got to be more engaged in their lives.”
The first call Marks received after the shooting came from a competitor. Then another called. And another. They all offered to supply staff to allow WDBJ staff time to grieve. CBS News send two photojournalists to help pick up any assignments that needed covering.
WDBJ was also stunned when viewers started building a memorial outside the station. They started sending baskets of food and pins. TV stations around the world sent selfie photos saying “We Stand With WDBJ.” Â
“Inside the building, our walls are covered with banners and cards.” Kelly said. “People out there just felt like they knew Adam and Alison.”
Marks and Zuber said the station is still offering help, especially for the morning staff that worked so closely together. Zuber said trauma experts have worked with field crews and anchors but also control room workers who were watching the whole shooting unfold on multiple monitors. Kim McBroom said, as she touched her boss’ hands, “We’ve all been holding each other’s hands. We’ve been holding each other up.”
But she said, “I’m definitely looking in the shadows and in the bushes more.” She added, “I’m going to go to events, I’m going to shake people’s hands. I’m going to talk to them. Those viewers are our people. And we can’t stop talking to our people.”
You can watch the replay of the WDBJ conversation here.
The following clips are also available:
-Why WDBJ management made themselves available to media so soon after the shooting
-How the murders changed WDBJ leaders and the newsroom
-How the murders changed their policy about doing live shots
Kristen Hare contributed to this story.
