Newspaper where 5 gunned down thanks public, affirms mission: 'We are journalists'
Three days after a gunman opened fire in the Capital Gazette newspaper office, killing five staff, the publication in Annapolis, Maryland, thanked the community for its support in a piece printed on its Sunday opinion section.
“Thank you. We will not forget,” read the headline.
“Thank you for the outpouring of sympathy for the terrible tragedy that took place Thursday in our Annapolis office,” the article begins.
It goes on to name the five staff killed: Rob Hiaasen, Gerald Fischman, Wendi Winters, John McNamara and Rebecca Smith, saying the newspaper will never forget them.
The survivors at the Capital Gazette will also remember their community, the "thousands who turned out to support us in a march to City Dock," the piece continued. "Thank you for the cards, the letters, the emails and the flowers. Thank you for the food, the text messages and the signs."
The article also noted the expressions of appreciation for their journalism, including the more than 800 new subscriptions to the paper's digital edition on Friday.
But the piece also mentioned more negative reactions and seemed to allude to one of President Trump's past critical comments about the press.
“Here’s what else we won’t forget: Death threats and emails from people we don’t know celebrating our loss,” the Capital wrote. “We won’t forget being called an enemy of the people,” an apparent allusion to Trump's tweet in 2017 that called the media in general – and some news organizations by name – “an enemy of the American people.”
The paper goes on to reaffirm its mission. “No, we won’t forget that. Because exposing evil, shining light on wrongs and fighting injustice is what we do ... We are journalists.”
The article ends with the names of 33 of the surviving staff.
