There's been debate about newspapers' usage of the photo of Nick Berg's grieving father, especially taking into consideration the fact that just before the photo was taken, an Associated Press reporter had just told the father that the terrorists had released a video of the execution, precipitating the display of grief. The AP reporter in question has posted a letter to Romenesko with his side of the story.

From JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press: Perhaps for cathartic reasons, I'm going to offer some thoughts on telling Nick Berg's family about the videotape. First, the context, which all of the posters here would have no way of knowing: I had spent about an hour with the father that morning before news of the web site, interviewing him about Nick's death, hearing a proud father offer stories of an ambitious son. That helped the situation immensely, developing that rapport. My editor called, told me the breaking news, and my response to him was that certainly there must be someone besides me whose job it was to tell the family. But that was the situation. The Boston Globe's Michael Saunders' post was so dead-on about what a reporter should do next, it was almost as if he were there. I put away my notebook. I told them the news as if I were telling my own family. I stood, watched, took mental notes. I did not ask any questions, but listened carefully to Michael's three sentence response. I was one part reporter and nine parts human.

The neighborhood was quiet, the street empty. There was no media horde, which made the telling (and the hearing, no doubt) easier than it otherwise might have been. And of course, although I did not know that they knew, the family already knew Nick had been decapitated, but the news of the web site was devastating.

I spoke with the family a handful of times last week in follow-up, and each time we spoke they thanked me for telling them. They never said why exactly, and I never asked. But for me this is the most important point -- what would the alternative have been for them? Walking by the TV and seeing the grainy video, or getting a cold call from someone (a reporter) they'd never seen or talked to before? Even though it was the most emotionally wrenching moment I've been a part of in many years, I'm glad I was there. If the goal is to minimize the harm, I believe that my telling the family did that.