by Cary Robbins

Mary Schmich can remember the first time her morals were put to the test.

Working for a paper in Palo Alto, California, at the beginning of her career, Schmich wrote a story about a young boy who died after falling from a cliff during a mudslide near San Francisco.

As she entered his memorial service, she was moved by how many people came together to celebrate his life. Wanting to capture the sorrowful moment, she decided to include a very personal detail: how his mother’s mascara was running down her face.

When the article was published, a reader sent a letter to the editor, asking how dare Schmich walk into that moment of grief and describe the boy’s mother in such a way.  “I was very defensive,” Schmich said. “That’s a telling detail.”

Now, decades later, Schmich who previously worked for The Chicago Tribune and other publications for decades, said when she first started reporting, she “didn’t even have a really good sense of what the ethical issues were.”

“I didn’t understand clearly for a while that…you’re giving them something by telling their story, but you’re taking something from them as well,” Schmich said.

Throughout their careers, journalists will at some point be faced with a task of writing stories about tragedy.

The Society of Professional Journalists published a resource guide for reporters to use when writing about survivors or grief. However, it is hard for journalists to understand where to draw the lines of reporting those personal stories until they are faced first-hand with the task of writing it themselves.

Schmich said now she understands that while the child’s memorial service was a public event, some moments are personal and do not need to be shared.

“If it’s going to hurt someone pointlessly, why are you doing it?” Schmich said.

Throughout her time reporting, Schmich learned that descriptions of people can sometimes be harmful. She said she often had to ask herself, “Are you pointlessly embarrassing someone? Are you playing into stereotypes?”

“I think a lot of physical description plays into stereotypes,” Schmich said.

Over 40 percent of Black adults said news “coverage largely stereotypes Black people,” according to a 2023 Pew Research Center study.

Some descriptions, Schmich said, do not make or break a story. Towards the end of her career, Schmich learned that sometimes describing people was not fully accurate.

“You do want some physical description sometimes,” Schmich said. “So, what I do now is I ask people how they would describe themselves.”

Above all, journalists have to continue trying to learn, she said. Journalists learn throughout their lives how to be respectful when sharing others’ stories.

“Whatever you just wrote is not everything. Whatever you just learned is just a piece of the puzzle….just stay curious, stay pure,” Schmich said. “But you also gotta meet that deadline.”

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