I won't say who the guy's/gal's name was, but I sent an email comment to somebody at WHIZ regarding the tackiness of posting what they hard, irregardless of the legality. Here is what he/she said:
Mike,
Thanks for writing. We usually will hold the name until next of kin is
notified. But the name was being used often by other media in our part of
the state who also have websites. If we hold the name then we end up being
the only station in the state not using it and then it becomes a disservice
to our local audience. Please understand these decisions are made on a case
by case basis. And if it had been local victims we would have reconsidered
our decision.
What he is describing as a disservice to his customers seems to be a vague way of saying "if other media are stating it, we have to compete with them even if it is blatant sensationalism." That's my interpretation.
I somewhat see his point about them being non-local - but how would they know for sure there wasn't a distant relative in the area. I dunno, just left a bad taste in my mouth. On the upside, WHIZ has one of the better looking websites of any news media in Ohio I think. Most people used canned stuff from NBC/ABC/CBS.
Back on the subject, as any accident like this is - it was tragic. I wouldn't want to have to be the family going through it.
Mike
