STLtoday’s lead headline for much of yesterday morning was “Amish travelers among Hwy. 40 crash victims”

As we discussed our Page One display for this morning,  copy editor Roger Kuechler criticized that online approach. “So they’re Amish, why’s that worth being in the headline?”  His point being: we wouldn’t have used Catholics, Methodists, Jews, etc. as descriptions in a headline.

I countered that the fact that the Amish, eschewing automobiles, had to hire a driver to get to the funeral of a relative in Tennessee offered more of a human interest story.  Somehow not being behind the wheel conveyed more vulnerability, more of a sense of helplessness. I say sense, because in this horrible accident, it appears no driving maneuver would have mattered.

 As it played out, the story focused more on the truck driver that authorities say caused the crash.  (One caller chastized us for this approach, saying it appears we were trying to make the driver a sympathetic character.)

While Amish life is a bit of a curiosity –  “Witness” and “Kingpin” spring to mind — Amish probably wasn’t a word to use in the headline.

Yesterday, we also had a newsroom conversation about using the photo we used on A1 today. Amish don’t want to be photographed. (From Amish.net: In addition to the scriptural admonition to not make “graven images” of themselves, the fact of posing is most of the issue. The Amish do no want to draw attention to themselves by posing for a photo or image.)

Ultimately, we decided that it was okay to use the photo because none of the family members outside the car at the hospital were recognizable. The photo had some news value, some urgency, in showing the arrival of worried relatives.