Funeral Twittering?

Call me Johnny-come-lately, but Twittering a funeral? Really?!

Before I launch into a diatribe about how good journalistic judgment, training and ethics are needed more than ever in these techy-times of instant publishing, the back-story:

A reporter at the Rocky Mountain News "twittered" the Sept. 10 funeral of a 3-year-old who was killed in an ice cream store. For those that don't know, Twitter is a live blog format where people provide super-short snippets--140 characters or less--about what they're doing.

So while some college kids might tweet: "Sitting in class listening to boring lecture by..." The Rocky Mountain News reporter tweeted: "People again are sobbing. Coffin lowered into ground. Family members shovel earth into grave."

John Temple, editor of the RMN, said readers would be curious about "what was happening during the funeral. Who was there. How many people. Anything special about the way the service was handled. Etc."

He continued by saying that most folks couldn't attend the high-profile funeral but empathized with the family, who lost their son in a car accident after an illegal immigrant with a shoddy driving record smashed into another car, sending both vehicles into an ice cream store.

Twittering the funeral, he said, was a way to allow the community to take part in the mourning. Yes, most people have voyeuristic tendencies. Think: Reality TV.

But several journalistic mantras besides "seek the truth and report it" were drummed into reporters' heads by professors and editors. Among them" Minimize harm."

Eight bullets rest under that headline on the Society of Professional Journalits Web site. Two that seem especially poignant: "Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity."

Almost as if responding to that thread, Temple's column continued: "Think of such live reporting as someone whispering into a phone directly to a global audience. There is no room for editors. What the reporter writes is what you read almost instantly. That requires special skill. It takes practice."