By Brian Stelter and Michael Pearson, CNN
(CNN) - Wednesday's release of audio recordings of the 911 calls from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings forced news organizations to make difficult - and sometimes unpopular - decisions about what to broadcast and what to hold back.
News executives said they were considering both the wishes of the community where the school was located - Newtown, Connecticut - and the journalistic impulse to report on one of the biggest news stories of the past year.
The recordings were made available to news organizations Wednesday afternoon.
CNN aired portions of the recordings in a report Thursday evening, including a 911 call from the school's secretary. The report was also posted online.
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Frank Sesno, Lauren Ashburn, David Zurawik and Howard Kurtz discuss what the media did right - and wrong - during the coverage of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre.
Wolf Blitzer, Soledad O'Brien and Howard Kurtz trade notes on what it's like to put aside emotion when covering tragedies like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut.
By Howard Kurtz, CNN
Editor's note: Howard Kurtz is the host of CNN's "Reliable Sources" and is Newsweek's Washington bureau chief. He is also a contributor to the website Daily Download.
(CNN) - It was a horrifying front-page photo in every sense of the word.
It felt cheap, degrading and exploitative in a way that words could never match.
The photo captures a Queens man, Ki-Suck Han, after he had been pushed onto the subway tracks Monday as an oncoming train roared toward him. The screaming headline says it all: "DOOMED."
But the New York Post had every right to run the picture.
Fred Francis, Jane Hall and Howard Kurtz examine the media's fascination with the accused Colorado theater shooter.
Bob Cusack, Ana Marie Cox and Ramesh Ponnuru join Howard Kurtz to discuss how the shooting in Aurora, CO was covered by the media.
Lauren Ashburn, Eric Deggans and Derek McGinty talk to Howard Kurtz about how media figures like Al Sharpton and Geraldo Rivera let their opinions inform their coverage of the Trayvon Martin case.
Eric Deggans, Lauren Ashburn, Derek McGinty and Howard Kurtz examine why it took so long for the national media to take notice of the shooting of Trayvon Martin.
Marisa Guthrie, Eric Deggans and David Zurawik talk to Howard Kurtz about media coverage of the Penn State scandal.