Who would be mourning?
Kathy Porter, executive producer of CBC Radio news and current affairs in Newfoundland and Labrador , says despite the wide coverage of the case, the public still did not know a lot about Turner. She says the funeral was a chance to learn more about her background. “The coverage of Shirley Turner was overwhelmingly negative immediately after her suicide,” says Porter. “Still, she was respected in her own community as a teacher. We wanted to know who would be the ones genuinely mourning her death.” MacLean was immediately uncomfortable with the idea of covering the funeral. “Regardless of what Shirley Turner did and regardless of what her background was – and she clearly was a disturbed individual who clearly had problems – I felt the family really had nothing to do with that,” he says. “A funeral is not for the dead. It’s for people who are living and trying to cope with a death. It’s hard enough to cope without having reporters there during such a private moment.” He discussed the iss
