A photojournalist has posted a series of emotional series about his murdered colleague, with whom he would usually be working at Christmas.
Quoting a recent post from Donald Trump on Twitter, in which the President wrote “FAKE NEWS - THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE”, Joshua McKerrow praised his former colleague, who was one of five people killed when a gunman stormed the offices of the Capital Gazette in June.
Describing her as “no ones enemy”, McKerrow praised Winters, and wrote: “Today I did the annual story on holiday decorations at the Governor’s residence. I’ve done it every year, for years. A very light but very fun story. Every year my reporting partner was Wendi Winters. This year, it was Selene. Wendi was murdered in June.
“Every year Wendi made us all Oreo holiday cookies. Except for the one year she made us jarred pesto. The question came up yesterday in the newsroom, who is going to make the cookies this year? Selene spoke up, I will.”
(The full thread can be read below)
The killings spurred intense criticism of Trump’s rhetoric on journalism and the “fake news media”. Many newsrooms in America have tightened security in the two years since Trump took power, during which he has routinely called reporters ”liars” and “enemies of the people”.
Jarrod W Ramos, who held a long-standing grievance against the newspaper over its reporting of his conviction for harassment, was in June charged with five counts of first-degree murder.
He also sent a barrage of menacing tweets that led to an investigation five years ago. A detective concluded he was no threat, and the paper did not want to press charges for fear of “putting a stick in a beehive”.
The staff of the Capital Gazette were praised for continuing to report on the tragedy even as they waited to find out the fates of their colleagues.
Those killed were Rob Hiaasen, 59, the paper’s assistant managing editor and brother of novelist Carl Hiaasen, editorial page editor Gerald Fischman, reporter John McNamara and sales assistant Rebecca Smith.
Wendi Winters was the paper’s special projects editor.
The day after, the newsroom published the paper as normal.
McKerrow said: “I don’t have a wrap-up to this story. I cried on and off all day. I miss her very much. I’m comforted that in a way she’s still with me, when I do the work that she loved to do.
“Journalism. Patriotic, truth telling, American. We’ll keep on doing the work.”