While Other News Outlets Keep Distance, AP Plans to Be in Newtown for Sandy Hook Anniversary

The city of Newtown, Connecticut officially requested that media organizations not come to town to cover the anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting this week. A number of news outlets (CNN and USA Today among them) have agreed, but the Associated Press still plans to cover the anniversary from Newtown.

Given the intense emotions surrounding this upcoming anniversary, the AP plans to tread lightly and give grieving families and neighbors their space, according to e-mailed statements published by Washington Post media blogger Erik Wemple on Tuesday.

“We will be in Newtown on the anniversary,” noted AP spokesman Paul Colford in an e-mail. AP East Region Editor Karen Testa explained, “We have covered every aspect of this tragedy from the beginning. As we have from the day of the shooting, we will be sensitive to the families and the town and respectful in our coverage.”

Wemple even offered a defense of the Associated Press, saying that this is not a “snub” because the AP is always on the ground to cover every story, and as long as they proceed “with all the sensitivity and respect that it has promised,” there should not be a problem.

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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