Hilltop Views reported the results of the autopsy and toxicology testing on Emily Palmer-Dunham, the student who drove the wrong way on Mopac last month and died in a head-on collision with another motorist. That driver, Robert Murphy, 48, also died.

These reports are public record and it is standard practice to make a public information request for the results once they are available. The Travis County Medical Examiner’s office faxed the results today and Print Editor-in-Chief Brooke Blanton is handling the story. She posted a news brief this afternoon. The resulting conversation on the Hilltop Views Facebook page has been an interesting study in the kind of disagreement that can flare when news is nothing but grim. Here’s a snapshot:

I read it all, including one current Hilltop Views editor “liking” a comment from someone beating up the newspaper (so much for company men and women), and then I sent this note to the staff:

All,

I’d like to take a moment to offer my support and praise for the newspaper’s coverage of the deaths of Emily Palmer-Dunham and Robert Murphy. Brooke’s story today, reporting the results of the autopsy and toxicology reports, was straightforward, accurate and objective. The coverage throughout this tragedy has been professional, and I say that as someone who, alas, covered more than her share of tragedy in almost 20 years in newsrooms.

There is a robust conversation on the Hilltop Views Facebook page, robust and varied, which is absolutely as it should be. Some of those posting can only or primarily see these events in light of their fellow student, Emily. Others take a wider view, recognizing that this very public tragedy befell two families, that two people are dead. Whatever your view, as student journalists you must recognize that the newspaper, if it is to do its job, needs to cover the entire series of events. The accident and the cause of the accident are absolutely necessary for our campus community, and the wider community to know. As the main source of independent news gathering at SEU, it is the job of Hilltop Views not to take sides or spare feelings, but to report what has happened, positive or negative, regardless of questions of fault or blame. This isn’t about building people up or tearing them down, it’s about factual reporting of news that impacts your campus community. Period.

I hope you will discuss this story and the paper’s coverage with one another. Whatever your personal views, however, I hope you will support your colleagues publicly, especially Brooke, who has worked so very hard to handle this difficult story with accuracy, sensitivity and grace. Most of you haven’t been in her shoes. You might talk with her about what it’s been like – and learn something.

Enjoy Thanksgiving

Jena