Opinion | When is it appropriate for a journalist to get involved in a story?

On Aug. 31, two reporters from Gannett’s USA Today Network were in the fishing town of Suwanee, Florida, covering the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia, when they spotted smoke.

Douglas Soule, a First Amendment reporter, and Alicia Devine, a Tallahassee Democrat photographer (and Florida’s 2021 photojournalist of the year), traced the smoke to a house, where it was pouring out thick from the roof.

“We need buckets,” someone yelled.

Soule and Devine grabbed a trash can and joined a crew of people pulling water out of the Suwannee River in an attempt to save the house.

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