Still a noble profession

The keys to ethical journalism
The keys to ethical journalism

Last winter, during one of the daily meetings with my staff at the Toronto Observer (the online newspaper produced by senior journalism students at Centennial College where I teach), one of my student reporters faced a dilemma. We had assigned her to attend the funeral of Sgt. Ryan Russell, the Toronto Police Service officer killed by a stolen pickup truck with a snow plow. It was too late for her to get a press pass to the funeral. So how, she wondered, would she get into the ceremony?

“Do I hide the fact I’m a reporter?” she asked.

“No,” I said. “It’s a public funeral. You should be able to get in. But if they ask you not to take photographs, respect their wishes.”

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Gift of serving

Police officers file toward the Toronto Convention Centre on Jan. 19 to attend the funeral of Sgt. Ryan Russell. As many as 12,000 law enforcement and emergency response officials from across the continent attended the event. Photo courtesy Octavian Lacatusu.
Police officers file toward the Toronto Convention Centre on Jan. 19 to attend the funeral of Toronto Police Service's Sgt. Ryan Russell. As many as 12,000 law enforcement and emergency response officials from across the continent attended the event. Photo courtesy Octavian Lacatusu.

Like many, I found myself drawn to the real-life drama of two families coping. In the aftermath of Sgt. Ryan Russell’s senseless death in the streets of Toronto, last Wednesday morning, I watched the policing family try to come to terms with the loss of one of its own. Then, on Tuesday afternoon, I listened and watched his widow Christine Russell put her mourning into words in front of 12,000 people.

“Ryan always put others before him,” she said at the Toronto Convention Centre funeral Tuesday. “On Jan. 12, it cost him his life.”

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