Columbus TV reporter made a big mistake — but there was a lesson in it for us too

We have all said things we should not have said.

None of us is free and clear.

On Tuesday night just before the 7 p.m. broadcast of WXTX Fox 54 news, reporter Sharifa Jackson could be heard on air saying, “I am so over this. I don’t know. I don’t think they are going to find him.”

She was talking about the Chattahoochee River search for a missing 4-year-old boy presumed downed. The body of his father, whom witnesses said went into the river to rescue the boy after he fell in while fishing, was found on Sunday.

Jackson should have never said what she said. Her station should have never put her in a position where that conversation she was having went over the airwaves.

What followed was a social media firestorm. The story made international headlines. Is that fair? Probably not.

WTVM/WXTX General Manager Holly Steuart has issued an apology and said the station regrets the unfortunate mistake.

“Those comments should never have been voiced in the first place,” the statement released on Wednesday read. “Although my news team wrote and aired an immediate apology for the mistake, it’s important to us that you know we take this matter very seriously.”

Jackson apologized to the family, Steuart said.

“The painful lesson of this mistake will not be lost on any of us as we continue to work as hard to provide the local news coverage you can count on,” according to the statement.

It should not be lost on any of us who report for a living. What happened to Jackson could happen to any one of us, whether you have two years of experience or 35. The Jackson situation could be taught as a case study in any Journalism 101 class.

Years ago, a Ledger-Enquirer executive editor once said, “Don’t say anything you wouldn’t mind seeing on a billboard on Veterans Parkway.”

In today’s social media climate, that warning is amplified. With the advent of live streaming of news events, off-the-cuff remarks can be made public instantly.

Retired Ledger-Enquirer reporter and editor Jim Houston spent 40 years in the news business. He was a broadcast journalism major at the University of Georgia who migrated to the print side.

“The rule was: ‘Don’t say anything that you wouldn’t say at church,’” Houston said when talking about Jackson’s comments.

Jackson did not use one of the magic words, but what she said was uncomfortable and insensitive. Jackson made a mistake, a big one, Houston acknowledges. But he also offers a word of advice to those sitting in judgment.

“You have to take into context what she said,” Houston said. “We don’t know the context of it. Maybe as a reporter, she wants to move on to another story. Maybe she was frustrated because she had been in the same spot so long.”

Jackson, 24, is a young and talented reporter. She has been assigned high-profile, intense stories over the last few months.

For the last week, she has been her station’s primary reporter on the tragic river search.

Columbus Fire and Emergency Medical Services commanders have been briefing the media twice daily throughout much of the search that is now in its second week. Those briefings have been at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Jackson is the only reporter staked out all day on the dead-end road that Georgia Power uses as an entrance to the dam. Most reporters have been coming in and out for the media briefings.

She has been sitting there most days.

And it’s not like she had been covering pancake suppers leading up to this assignment.

She covered the Upatoi triple murder trial from start to finish in February. Even for a seasoned court reporter, that was tough work. Gloria Short, 54, her son Caleb Short, 17, and granddaughter Gianna Lindsey, 10, were bound and beaten to death in the Shorts’ Midland home.

Last month, she was a media witness at the execution of Columbus Stocking Strangler Carlton Gary. And, unlike the other reporters who witnessed the death, she had little advance notice.

On the morning of the execution, Jackson was not on the witness list. She was added later in the day when an Atlanta television station was taken off the list because one of its reporters had violated Georgia Department of Corrections rules by doing a jailhouse phone interview with Gary the day before the execution using a three-way call.

Jackson was thrust into a role for which she had no time to mentally prepare. And her account in the aftermath of the execution was more about herself and her own reaction to witnessing a man die than it was about what she saw.

As you can see, she has not had it easy the last two months.

Does that excuse what she said? No. Does it explain her state of mind at the time she said it? Maybe.

But Houston, who covered more than his share of tragic stories, offers some advice for reporters working in the world of crime and death.

“You have to push those feelings into the background,” Houston said. “You have to remember that you are a young professional and just push it out of the way and deal with it later.”

As for what Jackson is going through, she must treat it as a learning experience, Houston said.

“She will get over this, and she will learn from it,” Houston said. “And she will be a better reporter.”

This story was originally published April 5, 2018 at 7:03 PM with the headline "Columbus TV reporter made a big mistake — but there was a lesson in it for us too."