Reporter shares her story of covering the Connecticut shooting

As a long time radio reporter, Heather Bosch is used to covering disasters and tragedies. But the former KIRO Radio reporter and mother of two who now works for CBS radio in New York admits she’s never had to deal with something like the Connecticut school shooting that left 20 children dead.

Bosch told Ross and Burbank the biggest challenge is to separate her own emotions from her job while always being sensitive and compassionate to those she’s covering.

“When I’m in the moment, I’m completely focused on what’s going on. What are the needs of the people I’m talking to? I like making sure people feel safe and comfortable when I’m talking to them,” Bosch said.

That’s particularly tough when you’re dealing with such young children, who clearly don’t completely grasp the scale of the tragedy.

As the first of the funerals got underway Monday morning, Bosch said she was struck by the scene of dozens of children filing into the funeral home, many of them acting like you’d expect young children to behave.

“I heard giggling and saw some sort of poking each other in the arms. No, I don’t think they completely understand,” she said. “They don’t quite conceive of this and there’s a part of you that doesn’t really want them to ever really grasp what has happened here.”

Sadly with 26 funerals ahead, they likely will. And Bosch will be there trying to report as accurately and compassionately as possible, with brief trips home to give her own children a little extra love.

“Home for now. Trying to take a break from the tragedy in Newtown, but knowing the community there cannot,” Bosch wrote on her Facebook page Saturday. “Sending my heart-felt prayers to them. Hoping you will, too.”

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