A couple of comments:
* They were St. Petersburg police officers, not Tampa police officers.
* Other local news organizations had the same information, so don't lionize BTLS as the next Oracle of Delphi. They chose not to broadcast or publish the information because, generally speaking, they tend to err on the conservative side about releasing such details during an ongoing, unstable and dangerous circumstance. Doing so potentially escalates a situation.
The only thing the public really needed to know at that time is that there was a gunman shooting indiscriminately from a house in a specific neighborhood, the police have responded, and everyone else should stay the hell away.
So the discussion really is whether it was the right thing for BTLS to broadcast the information. As a former editor/news director myself, with the situation as fluid as it was, I wouldn't have broadcast the information at that point. It didn't serve the greater public good in any substantial way and, in fact, could have made the situation worse -- whether it's emboldening the shooter, upsetting a family member who hadn't yet been informed, or some other effect. In my mind, it was irresponsible. It only served morbid curiosity.
On the other hand, I'm not going to wait until the authorities give me the OK to release the names simply because the authorities think they know best. My newsroom isn't beholden to the wishes of Johnny Law. But once the situation settles down, and I feel reasonably confident that the people who need to know have been told, then I'd go ahead and make the names and conditions public.
Most responsible broadcasters would operate the same way ... and did.
