‘Print it Black’ examines gun violence, journalism

Aug 1, 2024

CRAIG GARNETT
Publisher | Uvalde (Texas) Leader-News

When ABC News first suggested a partnership to help document the community’s recovery from Robb, alarms sounded. No journalist — regardless of stature — wants to be on the other side of the camera or microphone.

Besides, it was less than a month after the tragedy, and our staff was fighting to maintain its balance in the face of unrelenting grief and anger. How – and why – would we allow someone to follow us when the only thing certain each day was that 19 children and two teachers had been murdered.

There was also the fact that hiding a television camera is like throwing a sheet over an elephant. We worried that our role as the local newspaper would be misinterpreted: Who was actually telling the story?

Additional concerns centered on the possibility that our work might be appropriated into the more immediate world of broadcast. We are small but our competitive drive to report first was supercharged by the fact that ULN dates to 1879. We didn’t need a film crew to show people how we did our jobs. They could read our paper.

Conceived by ABC senior producer Cindy Galli, Uvalde365 called for staffing a local office from which the network would spend a full year reporting on the community’s “struggles” and “triumphs.”

The effort promised to employ reporters from the ABC website, digital reporters, teams from Nightline, Evening News and Good Morning America, as well correspondents like John Quinones, Maria Elena Salinas and Mireya Villarreal.

The initial ask put to our newspaper by senior producer James Hill and Megan Hundahl Streete was for an informal collaboration that would leverage our coverage and knowledge of the community in service to ABC’s reporting.

When we ultimately agreed, there was not the idea of an independent documentary. That came much later after photographer Andrew Fredericks and Streete had become part of our ULN family. Andy eventually carried a key to our front door, and Megan helped organize and conduct countless filming sessions at Andy’s side.

When ABC president Kim Godwin arrived with other executives for a visit, Andy met the group at our front door and proceeded to introduce them to the staff. As an independent contractor, Andy and Godwin had never met, so she naturally thought he worked for us.

And in so many ways she was not wrong. As time went by Andy and Megan began to envision a stand-alone documentary that would focus on our year-long coverage intertwined with the journey of longtime reporter Kimberly Rubio who’s daughter Lexi died in the attack.

That vision was embraced by both Galli and Goodwin and last weekend ULN staff traveled to Dallas to watch the world premiere of “Print it Black.” The 86-minute documentary screened at the Violet Crown Theater as an entry in the Dallas International Film Festival.

On June 20, DIFF announced that the film had won the jury award for best feature documentary.

It is not easy to watch yourself on a screen 20 feet tall. Nor is it easy to relive the catastrophe that crushed Kimberly and other families of victims, as well as survivors and the city in general.

But the message in “Print it Black” is worth any discomfort felt by participants. For Kimberly especially, it is that no mother should have to feel the pain she endures each day as a result of gun violence.

Sending that message across the nation was the driving force behind our participation in a project that put us on the wrong end of a camera. That and the belief that without local journalism a community has no chance to look at itself with eyes wide open.

Community newspapers hold up a mirror that reflects the day-to-day life of residents, elected officials and institutions. The images that return are most often happy and productive but when bad days darken the mirror, it is those disturbing images that can spur change.