The iraq blogger

e violated one of our own policies at the newspaper today.

In general, we do not cover funerals. Too often our presence is viewed as an intrusion on a family’s grief.

Notice that I did not say we never cover funerals.

Sometimes, news dictates that we do exactly that , such as in the case of a particularly notable figure.

Very often, the circumstances surrounding these funerals involves a notorious or criminal act.

The truth is, our presence is not wanted there, and we try to respect that. The family usually makes that pretty clear to us.

But that wasn’t the case on Tuesday when family and friends gathered to say goodbye to Michael Savage. He’s the 18-year-old student at Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades who was killed in a tragic accident on the campus last week.