The St. Petersburg Times: Keeping the tragic truth from the public a bad idea

BY SUE CARLTON,

Times Columnist

We live in a world of cyber-bullies, 24-hour news, YouTube and faceless commenters free to say or post anything, no matter how inane, stupid or outright vicious. Empathy and decency are often quaint notions in the anonymity of the Web.

Which makes you understand the motive behind a bill to shield the families of murder victims — even if it turns out to be overreaching and unnecessary.

Lawmakers are considering exempting photos, audio recordings and videos “that depict or record the killing of a person” from public records laws. The bill was spurred by last summer’s brutal murders of Tampa police Officers Jeffrey Kocab and David Curtis.

Read more here.