Abortion stories are never taken lightly in the newsroom

Yesterday I took a call from a woman so upset I knew she was shaking from head to toe to yell at me. She and a man in the background were furious that the newscast used a statement from a local abortion doctor, Dr. Warren Hern, and his picture. The statement was released to the media by the local doctor himself on his reaction to the fatal shooting of Kansas abortion doctor, Dr. George Tiller.

The caller truly believed our phones were "ringing off the hook" with furious complaint calls like hers. Worse, she believed by airing the statement and picture the station had signed his death warrant. She demanded to know who had made the decision to do the story.

I calmly looked in the script to see who had written it. Next I searched our information database to confirm where the original information had come from before I told her the script had been approved by the executive producer and it was all done with Dr. Hern's permission since he'd emailed the media himself to release the statement. She called me a liar and hung up me. I'm pretty sure she was muttering I was a murderer as she slammed the phone down.

Her call was the only complaint call the newsroom received regarding this story. I others reacted the way she did, they chose not to call. After she hung up I did brace myself for similar calls, but sighed a breath of relief when none others came.

I know many people believe media is there to push it's own agenda and has no care in the world on how people react to the stories. This is simply untrue. We are all very aware of how passionate people are regarding pro-life and pro-choice. There isn't a person in this newsroom that would ever track down an abortion doctor just to air his picture to cause him harm. Decisions regarding any stories on abortion are discussed thoroughly and are not taken lightly.

In telling the tragic news of Dr. Tiller's killing, we looked for local reaction. The order of stories was: update on the killing and the suspect in the case, followed by Dr. Hern's statement followed by a statement from Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput. None of the stories lingered on either statement or said anything other than here's local reaction.

We strive for fair and balanced. We never strive for outrage and hate.