By Kasey Joyce
St. Louis (KSDK) - Protestors from Westboro Baptist Church showed up at a local high school Monday to spread their message of hate. They were met by dozens of peaceful counter-protestors at the school. We covered the protests during our newscasts, but there was a lot of debate about it inside our newsroom.
We understand it's a heated issue, and it definitely has people talking.
"I think it was fine that you were there covering it," said viewer Judy Halliday. "I don't think there was any reason you shouldn't have been there. I was intrigued and interested to find out what was going on."
On Facebook, Eric Lee brought up this point. He said, "I think that when it comes to covering protests involving WBC, the best thing you can do is abstain from showing footage and/or photographs of the WBC protestors and their signs. By now we are all aware of the kind of hate-filled messages they have on their signs and I don't think we should have to keep seeing it. By doing that we're ultimately giving them what they want. I believe in the First Amendment and all, but enough is enough."
So here's why we decided to cover it: "It's not our place to take a stand on issues that are volatile," said KSDK News Director Mike Shipley. "It's our job to create a forum to let people debate and make up their own minds."
Clayton school administrators were faced with a similar issue: whether they should ignore the protestors or address it with students. They decided to turn it into a teachable moment and they understood why some media organizations decided to cover it.
"I appreciate the local media, whether they covered it or not, still had the discussion, that high level, 30,000 foot, you know what do you want to do and why," said Clayton spokesperson Chris Tennill.
But in the end, we believe it's up to you to decide how you feel about an issue. We just open up the floor for debate.
KSDK