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Update: Reflecting on a Death in Brooklyn Heights

Editor’s Note: This story was updated September 2, 2008, following new media attention and information release.

Graham Barnett, 42, of Brooklyn Heights, New York was found dead with multiple stab wounds in the bathtub of his apartment at 4:15 AM at 166 Hicks Street.

Graham Barnett was the father of two young children and a longtime resident of the Brooklyn Heights community. Initially, police were did not know the identity of the assailant, and have since ruled Mr. Barnett’s death a suicide.  Police found knives at the scene but did not publicly release further details on the incident, according to the New York Sun.

The local Brooklyn Daily Eagle first reported on the event, mentioning the identity of the deceased and the helicopter activity overhead but lacking more specific information.

Citizen journalist Marc "Weegee" Hermann of the Brooklyn Heights Blog provided the most thorough, community-based coverage of the incident in his post "Death on Hicks Street."  Weegee spoke to police sources at the scene, recounting that "cops recovered knives at the scene, and do not suspect criminality. Barnett’s wife was being questioned at the 84th Precinct." Brooklyn Heights Blog later cited the New York Times announcement of Barnett’s memorial service.

The event clearly affected local residents, who were stunned by the tragedy and disturbed by the intense police activity in their normally quiet neighborhood. 

It also stirred journalists and media critics. 

In this weekend’s New York Times Magazine, local resident Virgina Heffernan described her personal quest to find the truth of Mr. Barnett’s death, a challenge that landed her at the intersection of citizen journalism and suicide reporting ethics.

Like millions of Americans, evidenced in most of Google’s fastest-growing search trends, Ms. Heffernan entired Graham Barnett’s first and last names as a search query online.  What she found was a dearth of big media, mainstream sources, and a colorful patchwork of citizen journalism accounts that ultimately culled and organized the information she was looking for.

Initially critical of sources including GroundReport and the mainstream media, she finally arrives at the compromise that, "unlike an official news report, a notice from a neighborhood observer should be seen as a tip — an invitation to see for yourself." 

She continues, nearly adopting the citizen journalism mentality: "If I needed so much to know, I should have gone to the dead man’s block; I should have spoken to the police."

Oddly, in line with the oft-criticized policy of the New York Times, Heffernan fails to link to any of her multitude of online sources.

Debate continued on the Poynter Online blog, where journalists argued the duty and danger of reporting on suicides.  Traditional convention dictates that journalists refrain from suicide reports.  In one comment, Kristin Macintosh asserted that, "when a private person chooses to take their life, that isn’t news."  Others contended that it is crucial, like T Record, who states, "Report on suicides. Include the truth of what they are."

John:
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