Every reporter can relate to Dylan Lyons.
A 24-year-old journalism school grad, Lyons was beginning his climb up the ladder, juggling a personal life and professional opportunities. On Tuesday night he stood in a dark parking lot hours after a local school board meeting for what turned out to be his last live shot. On Wednesday afternoon the Spectrum News 13 reporter was gunned down at the scene of a murder investigation. His photojournalist colleague Jesse Walden was critically injured.
When the terrible news broke, I went back and watched Lyons’ work from earlier in the month. It was exactly the sort of reporting that consumers say they want: not sensational, not ideological, just factual and reliable. Most importantly, it was truly local. One day he was in Daytona Beach. The next day, Sanford. He reported on a looming deadline for hurricane aid; a Black history art exhibit; and a local family affected by the recent earthquake in Turkey.
Tuesday appeared to be a typical day. Lyons attended a school board meeting in Brevard County and described discipline issues on some of the county’s school buses.
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