While victims tried to quietly hide from a gunman during last Friday’s massacre in Norway, their cellphones started going off. Reporters were looking for a quote.

Tore Christensen, 25, told Nettavisen.no he could hear the gunman shoot someone only 2-4 yards away from his hiding-place inside a café building. Shortly thereafter, a news reporter called his cellphone.

Luckily, the phone was set to be silent.

“I can understand that family members who may not think clearly tried to call, but I had higher hopes for the professional responsibility of the press,” he told Nettavisen.

A 32-year-old man is charged with killing at least 73 people at a youth camp on the Utøya island in Norway.

“Quite a few people I talked to afterwards had received a call from one or other form of media… I really hope none were revealed while being called by the press,” Christensen told Nettavisen.

—-

I became totally speechless when I read this story today. Is this normal? Do editors tell their staff to call hostages who are being held captive, to ask for an interview?