Katrina: Journalists Are First Responders, “Face To Face With Tragedy”

Seattle Times executive editor Mike Fancher has a poignant column this morning:

“Think about the people we call ‘first responders.’

Chances are you didn’t think about the men and women with notebooks, pens, cameras and microphones. They, too, are the ones first on the scene of any disaster, prepared to do their jobs under the worst circumstances imaginable.

When you saw videotape or a photograph of someone who has lost everything, or when you read the quotes of someone begging for assistance, the first responder who was there was a journalist. On the ground, in the water, face to face with tragedy.”