A lot of the headlines about the tragic accident yesterday are really disgusting

I posted this in a smaller subreddit, but I'm posting it here because it's really bothering me. I hope that's okay.

I'm a media professor, so maybe I'm particularly sensitive about this stuff, but a lot of the news headlines about yesterday's accident that resulted in the death of Hayla Hutchins and the injury of Joel Souza are disgusting and unethical. Unless we find out something surprising that hasn't even been suggested in the reporting yet, Alec Baldwin likely did nothing wrong. He's probably fired prop guns in his career thousands of times, and this time the armorer or prop person likely made a tragic--possibly criminally negligent--error. Yet stories are making Baldwin the center of it in ways that are so unfair to him. Obviously the main victims are Hutchins (RIP) and Souza, but unless we find out something very different from what's been reported, Baldwin's a victim too. I can't imagine being him right now.

Yet here are some of the headlines:
NY TIMES: "Alec Baldwin Fatally Shoots Crew Member With Prop Firearm"

Guardian: "Alec Baldwin fatally shoots woman with prop gun on movie set"

And those are just the top two on Google. I've seen even worse. The headlines should be something like "Tragic accident on movie set leaves one dead, one injured" and Baldwin's name shouldn't be in the title (I get he's famous so he drives clicks, but that's gross). Or if they're going to go clickbaity and use Baldwin's name, at least have the word "accident" in the title. Those headlines almost read like Baldwin lost his temper on set and shot someone when the chances are like 98% that he did nothing wrong.

I know Baldwin is a jerk and he's often unlikable. But he deserves MUCH, MUCH better than this.

And sorry for the early morning rant. It's just upsetting to me that the news would take something that is going to scar someone for the rest of his life (and I, to repeat, am not saying he's the main victim here, but this reporting doesn't help Hutchins or Souza at all by making it all about Baldwin) and make it a thousand times worse for him with headlines designed purely to drive more web traffic.

Submitted October 22, 2021 at 07:59PM by jboggin https://ift.tt/30VvReB