Liz Mantush | staff writer

Like every other Saturday, Michele Rosenthal and her husband went to run errands on Oct. 27, 2018.

But that day, they received a life changing text.

“Active shooter at Tree of Life Synagogue,” the message said.

They placed the car into park, and Rosenthal said her world began to spin.

“The boys are there,” she said.

Rosenthal’s brothers Cecil and David, who were born with Fragile X Syndrome, had been dropped off by their caretaker at the Tree of Life congregation earlier that morning. The brothers and nine other worshipers died that day in the deadliest antisemitic attack in United States history.

On Tuesday, Rosenthal spoke on a panel hosted by Gumberg Library and the Patricia Doherty Yoder Institute for Ethics and Integrity in Journalism and Media.

The panel, titled “The Ethical Responsibilities of Media When Tragedy Strikes a Community,” consisted of Lily Thomas, a retired Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editor; Bob Mayo, a retired WTAE-TV reporter; Paula Ward, currently a reporter for TribLive and Soo Song, a former attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice.

The panel dove into the media’s perspective of events like the shooting at Tree of Life, and the care and thorough approach necessary when reporting.

Mayo was tasked with reporting alongside a photographer on the ground in Squirrel Hill the day of the attack.

He was interviewing people near a vigil that was held for the victims that evening. He made sure to consider the gravity of the situation, being careful when talking to people because he didn’t know their specific connection to the event.

“Basic humanity is what you draw in this circumstance,” he said.

Ward said that something that makes journalism interesting is its reflection of the human condition.
 

“We try to understand why, ideally, to try to not make it happen again, which we are failing, but you can’t stop seeking answers,” she said.

Ward was on her way to her sons’ soccer practice in Schenley Park in Squirrel Hill on the day of the shooting. A mother in the group was a member of Tree of Life and had sent Ward a text, warning her to stay at home.

Immediately, Ward called the Post-Gazette, where she worked at the time, and went in.

“That’s what we do,” she said.

Thomas, who went into work the day of the incident to move reporters to the scene, said that reporting on traumatic events can take a toll on reporters.

She said that when covering the events at Tree of Life, the reporters were passionate about giving the public information.

“We didn’t want to stop, and didn’t stop,” Thomas said.

In other circumstances, reporters would be encouraged to take care of themselves, go home and get some rest before returning to the job, Thomas said.

But the day the shooting unfolded, there was no time to rest.

“It was so all out, and I probably wasn’t as sensitive to the trauma that can be inflicted on reporters as well as victims and onlookers and just everybody in the community,” she said.

The trial

On the panel, Song offered a different perspective.

Song said as information was released about the event, it became clear that this was a hate-driven crime.

“We immediately started trying to marshal the facts so that we could file charges against the attacker,” she said.

As the case progressed, Song said it was important to protect the families involved. She said the courtroom itself only sat about 46 people, so accommodations were made so that victims’ families could watch the trial safely.

“Our job was to assure that the trial in the building for the witnesses and victims who had to come in, was a safe place for them, was a place where they could exercise their right to observe the trial and not be confronted by the media, other members of the public or the defendant’s family,” she said.

Both victims and survivors were protected under the Crime Victims Rights Act, Song said. They were shielded from viewing the evidence that would be presented to the courts unless their families were associated.

As the trial grew closer the 10.27 Healing Partnership, which started in response to the synagogue shooting and offers resources to those coping with religious violence and is directed by Maggie Feinstein, collaborated with Andrew Conte, director of the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University, and WQED to devise a plan for the media moving forward.

Feinstein told The Duke both local and national newsroom directors attended the meeting to discuss how to approach coverage of the trial while maintaining the dignity and humanity of the survivors and victims’ families.

Feinstein said that the objective of the meeting was to encourage journalists covering the trial to take a sensitive approach when reporting on the details, for respect of the families and their experiences.

‘Have some humanity’

On the day of the event and in the aftermath, Rosenthal was responsible for communicating information with her parents and sister, who all lived outside of Pittsburgh.

“The day of, I had one focus and that was my family,” she said.

Growing up she had lived four blocks from the synagogue and was familiar with it inside and out. When she learned that her two brothers were inside the building, she knew that she had to go there.

“When we got to the third block and there were barriers set up, it was at that point I realized the magnitude of what was happening,” she said.

Ward said that when reporting on such a tragedy, a journalist has to compartmentalize their emotions. Rosenthal said she needed to do the same in order to be a source of information for her family.

“My therapist would tell me, I went into work mode, and I attacked it like a job,” she said.

After the loss of her brothers, local media began to reach out to her.

“It was not for a comment, it was to express their sympathies,” she said.

Rosenthal and other families did not speak publicly on the case until the final verdict. She said their comments were facilitated by 10.27.

“If I did say anything it was ‘shut up and not speak for us’,” she said.

In the days following the tragedy, Rosenthal and her sister were contacted by national media. She said she later learned that old friends had given their phone numbers to the national media, which disturbed her.

When approaching tragic events, Rosenthal hopes journalists keep people’s emotions and their experiences at the center of their coverage.

“Have some humanity,” she said. “Our world is lacking that right now.”

Editor’s note: Paula Ward is the adviser for The Duke and an adjunct professor in the media department.

Liz Mantush can be reached at mantushe@duq.edu