Rachel Wise: Hard week for humanity

Rachel Wise

It's only halfway through the week and it has already been a rough one.

Internationally, dozens of people have been shot dead and hundreds wounded at a Las Vegas country music festival.

Locally we have had several people injured, two critically, in three separate house fires. Tragically, after the third fire, a young boy has died.

You may have seen these stories in the media.

What you may not have seen is the media behind the stories.

We in the media have a job to do when these events occur. People want to know what's going on ... is it serious, is it someone they know, should they be worried, what can they do?

It's human nature to want to know these things, and it's the news media's job to inform people.

For this we are often criticised, even reviled. "The media" can come in for a lot of flak.

But while people see what's in the media, they rarely see what's behind the media.
First and foremost it's people.

Each of the reporters, photographers, videographers, editors and more who are assigned to these stories has family and friends and their own life events both happy and sad.

So behind the scenes, behind the websites and news bulletins and front pages, are human faces and human emotions and in a week like this, shock and deep sadness.

There is strength in knowing, however, that the Hawke's Bay community has a heart - that's something we report on often - and that these families will be wrapped around by their community and supported through this tough time.