One of the big stories this week was when a Wichita Police officer doing security work at the Wichita Area Technical College was shot at and miraculously was uninjured.  According to the department, his radio microphone that was clipped to his shirt saved his life.  The bullet struck that microphone and deflected.

Obviously, when something like this happens, things get very hectic in a newsroom.  However, the topic of my post this week isn't about the story itself, but rather, how the police department asked us to cover it.

When something like this happens, loved ones of police officers always hit the phones and want to know who is involved.  We're always trying to look for updates to the story, and finding out the officers name was on the list of things to do.  Once we did find out the name through reliable police sources, we aired it.

After that, other high-ranking officers within the department including a deputy chief, requested that we not broadcast the officer's name due to safety concerns.  We decided to err on the side of caution and refrained from reporting the officers name after that and pulled it down off of our website.

Doing what a government body tells us to do is typically not in ours or the general public's best interest.  However, in this case, with what appeared to be a specifically targeted Wichita Police Officer's life in danger, KAKE News did as we were asked and refrained from reporting the officers name in any further stories.

What surprised me was that at least one other media outlet in Wichita did not do as the police department asked and continued to report the officers name throughout the day and even aired his picture in their broadcasts.

What do you think?  Should we have reported the officers name?  And then were we right in pulling the information when the police department asked us to?

I believe, to an extent, that police officers are public servants.  They serve us all and are paid for by us all.  The department often seeks to publicize officer's names when they do good things... and we often do stories on those topics.  So why is it any different when things aren't so positive?