Former WNWO NBC24 anchor and current FOX Fort Wayne news director Jim Blue posted this about a month ago — I didn’t spot it until today, but this is another great example that shows the inconsiderate, heartless members of the media are few and far between, as I often stress in my blog.

Don’t Trust the Media at Jim Blue’s Blog.

I’ll offer up my own experience with this one.

A few months ago, we got word that another local media outlet ran an interview with the family of a local teen who was hit and killed by a train.

My assignment? Go ask the family if they’d talk to us. It wasn’t a game of catch-up, but, more along the lines of, “hey, they talked to someone else, maybe they want to get their son’s story out.”

Still, I had an overwhelming gut feeling that told me it wasn’t the right thing to do — and I always trust my gut.

So I called my mom for advice as I sat, hidden in a parking lot down the street from the family’s home. I told her I didn’t feel right — I didn’t feel human. I was trying too hard to convince myself there was a good reason behind what I was doing, and I didn’t like it.

I expected her to talk me out of it.

Instead, she told me to just go knock — just to see if they wanted to talk. After all, they probably weren’t even home.

As I pulled into the driveway, my heart sank and my stomach started to twist — the front door opened to reveal two distraught parents.

I told them we saw the interview and, quite honestly, I didn’t even want to bother them — but thought we’d offer them the chance to talk if they wanted to.

They declined, and I thanked them for their time, handed them a business card in case they wanted to talk in the future and left as fast as I had arrived.

I still didn’t feel great — and I called my mom back.

She reminded me that even though I was intrusive for a moment, my attitude, my respect for that family may have made it easier for them to call us in the future — and, at the very least, gave them a more positive view of the media, despite the tragedy and subsequent public attention in their lives.

It still makes me uncomfortable now thinking back to that day and — for a guy that’s more comfortable talking to a murder victim’s family than ordering a pizza — that’s saying a lot.

In some cases, I’ve been able to justify bothering a family and it keeps those emotions in check. [see "Why We Do It: "How does this make you feel?"and "Why We Do It: Covering Kids Hit by Cars"]

Other times, you need to feel that emotion as a reminder that you are still human.