Final Word: I won’t listen to Newtown 911 tapes
Dec 4, 2013, 8:33 PM | Updated: 8:33 pm
The Newtown 911 tapes were released Wednesday.
The school workers who called 911 that awful day last December have asked that the recordings NOT be made public, but a judge in Newtown decided he couldn’t keep them under wraps any longer.
Various news organizations have rushed to issue their opinions on whether or not the tapes will be aired on their networks. It’s been a very self-serving discussion, especially on CNN, where anchors went out of their way to say that they would take a listen and then decide “policy.” In other words, decide if there is any newsworthiness to the audio.
Some say it’s a way to determine the quality and speed of the response by local law enforcement. Was anyone questioning that Sandy Hook police didn’t respond fast enough?
The families of the 6 and 7 year olds who were murdered that day also asked that the calls not be aired. Can you imagine if your 6 year old had been shot a year ago next week, how it would feel to hear these calls today?
Merry Christmas.
Look, there’s nothing in the audio of the call that you couldn’t glean from a transcript. No one is questioning the response time of the police or the Sandy Hook staff. The shooter killed himself and his enabling mother, so there’s no need for a prosecution.
What are we gaining here? I’m not sure we gain anything.
I won’t be listening. As hard as it will be, I will look away, turn the volume down and try to focus elsewhere.
As far as I am concerned, the Sandy Hook parents suffered the greatest loss possible that day in December. There’s no need to listen to the calls for help from the people who tried hard to save their beautiful first graders, and could not.
