How the Newtown Bee covered the mass killing: one story that doesn't need to be behind a paywall

It has no grand theorizing about community journalism, but Rachel Aviv's story in the latest issue of The New Yorker magazine about how the Newtown Bee covered the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings is a testament to the craft and those who practice it.

When reporter/photographer and volunteer firefighter Shannon Hicks arrived on the scene, "She saw a young officer, William Chapman, come out of the school yelling, 'Get the bus!' He had a limp girl in his arms," Aviv writes. "Hicks began calling for an ambulance, but then she saw one already approaching. Through the lens of her camera, she watched as Chapman, only a few strides from the ambulance, fell to the ground, apparently losing strength. She saw that the child's face had lost color, and knew then that she would never publish the photographs she was taking."

The photo by Shannon Hicks that was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize

When another reporter arrived, Hicks donned firefighter's gear and took on her other big community role. "The Bee recently submitted Hicks’s photograph of the children being led to safety for the Pulitzer Prize," Aviv writes, "but Hicks still felt conflicted about her work that day. One set of parents thanked her for the picture -- they'd seen their daughter's face online before arriving at the firehouse," where parents waited. "But Hicks also heard from two residents who said that it was exploitative, a criticism she understood." The girl in the light-blue top "appears to be crying or screaming," but "in an earlier frame, the girl had looked calm," Aviv writes, quoting Hicks: "I want to find her and tell her, 'I'm so sorry. You were just scared. I'm sorry you will remember that moment because of me.'"

Two-third of Newtown residents get the Bee, Aviv writes, "and after the shooting the editor, Curtiss Clark, found himself thinking about its purpose. He wanted the paper to draw the community together, to reclaim its routine—a task made nearly impossible by all the outsiders streaming into town. The Bee reporters talked about the deaths at Sandy Hook Elementary School as if the children had been in some sort of natural disaster. They referred to 'the incident' and avoided the name Adam Lanza, which had become a kind of obscenity."

Aviv's story is behind a paywall that will charge you $5.99 to read it.