By: Adebowale A. Adeoye
Introduction
Journalism is not only about reporting facts but also about framing stories with sensitivity, balance, and professionalism. Newsrooms serve diverse audiences, and the way stories are presented can influence how readers interpret events. One ethical challenge that occasionally arises in community journalism is the merging of contrasting events, such as a burial and a birthday, in the same report or visual layout.
Having observed journalists, including some senior practitioners with over two decades of experience, repeatedly committing this serious mistake in their daily reporting, I was compelled to revisit some of the manuals I studied as a journalism student with the Writers Bureau, UK, as well as additional online resources, in order to understand and proffer solutions to this disturbing problem.
While both are legitimate newsworthy events within communities, combining them without careful editorial judgment can create ethical, emotional, and professional issues. This paper explores why merging burial and birthday stories (and pictures) together is often inappropriate, identifies rare contexts where it might be acceptable, and provides guidelines for best editorial practices.
Why It May Be Inappropriate
- Tone Conflict
- A burial story is solemn, reflective, and mournful, focusing on loss, legacy, and grief.
- A birthday story, on the other hand, is joyous, celebratory, and uplifting.
- Juxtaposing these two contrasting tones can feel jarring, insensitive, or disrespectful, especially to the grieving family.
- Perceived Insensitivity
- Audiences may interpret the combination as trivializing the pain of the bereaved by placing it alongside a moment of celebration.
- This could erode trust in the media house, as it signals a lack of editorial sensitivity.
- Professional Practice
- Standard newsroom practice traditionally separates events of contrasting tones. Obituaries, tributes, and bereavement announcements are usually housed in one section, while celebrations such as birthdays, weddings, or anniversaries are placed in another.
- Failing to maintain this separation can blur professional boundaries and diminish the dignity accorded to each type of event.
When It May Be Acceptable
While caution should always prevail, there are limited contexts where merging burial and birthday content might be editorially permissible:
- Special Commemorative Pull-Outs or Supplements
- In community-focused or weekend “people’s pages,” newspapers sometimes showcase multiple events of the week—weddings, burials, birthdays, anniversaries—in a collage format.
- In such contexts, readers already expect a mix of tones because the emphasis is on community representation, not hard news.
- Lifestyle and Social Media Platforms
- On lifestyle blogs, online community platforms, or soft-news segments, pictures of diverse events may be collaged together under “community happenings.”
- Even then, thoughtful captions and careful arrangement must be used to avoid insensitive juxtapositions.
- Shared Community or Political Contexts
- In rare cases, if the burial and birthday involve members of the same social, political, or professional circle, an editor might present them together under the umbrella of society coverage.
- Even here, clear narrative separation is necessary to maintain sensitivity.
Best Editorial Practices
- Maintain Clear Separation
- Hard news such as burials, tributes, and obituaries should always be separated from soft/social news like birthdays, weddings, or anniversaries.
- If both must appear in the same publication, they should be placed in different sections (e.g., “Tributes & Remembrance” vs. “Celebrations & Achievements”).
- Layout Sensitivity
- Avoid placing burial and birthday photographs side by side, as this visually merges mourning with celebration.
- Headlines and captions should be crafted to reflect the emotional tone of each story without overlap.
- Audience Awareness
- Editors must always consider the audience’s cultural and emotional expectations. In many African contexts, for example, death carries deep spiritual weight, and juxtaposing it with joyous news could be seen as disrespectful.
- Training & Editorial Policies
- Media houses should adopt clear editorial guidelines that spell out how sensitive stories (death, accidents, grief) are to be presented in contrast with lighter community events.
- Continuous training of journalists on media ethics and cultural sensitivity will help prevent mistakes that could harm a media outlet’s reputation.
Case Illustration
Imagine a front-page collage where the picture of a grieving family at a burial is placed directly next to a smiling celebrant cutting a birthday cake.
- To the grieving family, it may appear that their pain is trivialized.
- To the birthday celebrant, it may seem that their joy is overshadowed by grief.
- To the audience, it reflects poor editorial judgment and undermines the paper’s credibility.
This is why context and presentation matter as much as content in journalism.
Conclusion
Journalism carries a responsibility not only to inform but also to respect the emotional realities of the people it reports on. Merging burial and birthday stories and pictures together without editorial sensitivity can damage credibility, alienate readers, and hurt affected families.
While there may be limited exceptions in society or lifestyle journalism, the safest and most professional approach is to keep solemn and celebratory events separate in coverage and presentation. When merging is unavoidable, clear boundaries, sensitive layout, and appropriate tone management must guide editorial choices.
✅ Key Takeaway for Journalists: The dignity of grief and the joy of celebration are both worthy of coverage—but they must never be carelessly entangled.
