Advertisement

U.S. newsrooms honour Capital Gazette shooting victims with moment of silence

Employees stand for a moment of silence in the Baltimore Sun newsroom, July 5, 2018. Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun via AP

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Newsrooms across the country paused Thursday to observe a moment of silence for five employees of a Maryland newspaper who were killed a week ago in one of the deadliest attacks on journalists in U.S. history.

The Capital Gazette staff paused somberly at 2:33 p.m. as editor Rick Hutzell rang a bell for each person who died at the Annapolis paper exactly seven days earlier, The Baltimore Sun reported.

READ MORE: Family, colleagues remember slain Capital Gazette victims

The staff traditionally convenes meetings by clanging a bell, and Hutzell said the act has taken on a new meaning.

“Every time we ring that bell, we’re going to think about our friends,” Hutzell said.

The American Society of News Editors and The Associated Press Media Editors asked newsrooms around the globe to join in a remembrance of the dead, and many did.

Story continues below advertisement

WATCH: U.S. Congress holds moment of silence for Capital Gazette victims

Click to play video: 'U.S. Congress holds moment of silence for Capital Gazette victims'
U.S. Congress holds moment of silence for Capital Gazette victims

About a dozen people held hands and prayed next to a memorial near the building where the shootings happened. Cheryl Starr and her son, Sam, came to pay their respects.

“We live right next door, so it just hit us hard, because it’s so close to home — way too close to home — and it’s tragic. Everyone in the community knew these people, and it just shouldn’t happen like that,” she said.

READ MORE: 4 journalists, 1 salesperson identified as victims in Capital Gazette shooting

In Louisville, Kentucky, the newsroom at the Courier Journal fell silent in memory of the victims after executive editor Joel Christopher read the names of the dead.

Story continues below advertisement

“They paid a high price for doing what we do,” he said.

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

WATCH: Capital Gazette employees take part in Annapolis, Maryland Fourth of July parade

Click to play video: 'Capital Gazette employees take part in Annapolis, Maryland Fourth of July parade'
Capital Gazette employees take part in Annapolis, Maryland Fourth of July parade

In the newsroom of The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia, the vigil was accompanied by the names of the five victims being read aloud, according to reporter Jane Harper.

WATCH: Vigil held for victims of Capital Gazette shooting in Maryland

Click to play video: 'Vigil held for victims of Capital Gazette shooting in Maryland'
Vigil held for victims of Capital Gazette shooting in Maryland

“It was incredibly quiet,” said Harper, 55, who worked at Annapolis paper from 1987 to 1991. “Not a cellphone rang. Not a desk phone. Not a single sound.”

Story continues below advertisement

About 100 people gathered in the headquarters of The Associated Press in New York to observe a moment of silence, circling around a desk where coverage of national and international stories is planned.

READ MORE: Capital Gazette shooting suspect sent 3 threatening letters on same day as attack

The attack on the Capital Gazette newsroom was “frightening and distressing in so many ways,” AP executive editor Sally Buzbee said.

Jimmie Gates, a reporter who participated in a moment of silence at the Clarion Ledger newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi, said being a journalist is like being in a small fraternity or sorority, and an injury to any one member hurts all.

The remembrance also touched journalism schools. No classes were in session at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, but more than a dozen faculty members and students bowed their heads in memory of the slain newspaper workers.

One of the victims, assistant managing editor Rob Hiaasen, was an adjunct lecturer who taught his first class at the school in the spring semester. Two other victims, editorial page editor Gerald Fischman and John McNamara, a writer and copy editor, earned their bachelor’s degrees from the university more than three decades ago.

Story continues below advertisement

WATCH: Trump has ‘great deal of respect’ for media as WH lowers flag in honour of Capital Gazette victims

Click to play video: 'Trump has ‘great deal of respect’ for media as WH lowers flag in honour of Capital Gazette victims'
Trump has ‘great deal of respect’ for media as WH lowers flag in honour of Capital Gazette victims

Special publications editor Wendi Winters and Rebecca Smith, a recently hired sales assistant, also were killed. Deborah Nelson, an associate professor at Maryland, said the killings will be on the minds of people getting into journalism.

“Students will be traumatized by the loss and they’ll also be wondering about the issue of safety, which is something we haven’t had to deal with much in the U.S.,” she said.

READ MORE: Woman harassed by Capital Gazette shooting suspect was ‘tormented and traumatized’

Before the remembrance in Annapolis, Capital Gazette photographer Paul W. Gillespie tweeted an image from the staff’s temporary newsroom showing a banner bearing the name of the paper. The banner, which journalists marched with in the state capital’s Fourth of July parade, made the temporary quarters “feel a bit more like home,” he wrote.

Story continues below advertisement

Jarrod Ramos, a 38-year-old Maryland man with a longtime grudge against the newspaper, has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder in the shooting. He is being held without bail.

Associated Press reporters Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Kentucky; Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi; Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama; David Bauder in New York; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; and Michael Kunzelman in College Park, Maryland contributed to this report.

Sponsored content

AdChoices