Covering crime means two things: 1) Dead people and 2) grieving families. The National Victim Center endorses these guidelines for journalists:

• Advise victims that they can be interviewed “on the record’ or “off the record,” and that they don’t have to be interviewed at all.
• Avoid photographing crime scene details such as remains or removal of bodies.
• Don’t photograph crime victims in court or graphic crime scenes without permission.
• Don’t print information about the crime that may embarass or humiliate a victim.
• Don’t promote sensationalism in reporting crime.

Approaching crime victims; identifying rape victims; naming the accuser and the accused.