In newsrooms across the country, anchors, reporters and camera operators are standing up in support of their fallen colleagues.
via @jennywcvb
Following the horrific murders of WDBJ7 anchor Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward, journalists from across the nation have taken to social media in a show of solidarity, paying tribute to their fallen comrades.
In the hours after the on-air shooting of Parker, Ward, and local businesswoman Vicki Gardner (who is reportedly in stable condition) fellow reporters, anchors, and members of the journalism community adopted the hashtag #WeStandWithWDBJ to honor those killed, as well as offer support to their friends, families, and colleagues. It is a poignant act of camaraderie from across a professional field used to reporting on, not being the focus of, the news.
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via @wbznewsradio
via @jennyWCVB
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The hashtag seems to have begun with KVUE’s Vicki Chen, who encouraged news crews to rally, early Wednesday afternoon:
via @vchen24
Chen later explained:
My photographer and I drove an hour outside of Austin for our story today, and at one point, stopped on the side of the road to shoot some video. In that moment, in broad daylight, in a safe neighborhood, I suddenly felt a pang of fear. Are we in danger? Is this safe? But just as quickly as the feeling came, others replaced it. Indignation, maybe? Pride? I thought, I can stand here and be scared, or I can stand here and be a journalist, which is what Alison Parker and Adam Ward did. In fact, it's what thousands of journalists do every day: our jobs.
It’s a message which has struck a nerve. At the time of this story being published, the hashtag has been tweeted nearly fifteen thousand times in just a day.
CNN points out that some journalists have also chosen to replace their profile pictures with broadcast color bars, as a way to honor their murdered colleagues.
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The wave of solidarity has not gone unnoticed in the WDBJ7 newsroom:
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The WDBJ7 Facebook page has been flooded with messages of support as well. In a post to followers, the station writes: “Please hug your loved ones today. Our time is precious here on Earth.”
[via poynter]
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