Posted on 11/28/21
| News Source: WBAL
As a self-described straight shooter, WBAL afternoon/early evening anchor and Baltimore-area native Robert Lang has been a part of the station for more than 17 years, with more than 35 years in the industry.
“I thought about my own family in a synagogue on Shabbat,” Lang said regarding the Tree of Life synagogue killings. “My parents might typically be in a synagogue at Shabbat. My brother, his family, my nieces and nephews. I thought this could have been us. It’s very hard to cover a story like that, but you try to separate your own emotions from your professional responsibility.”
Throughout the years, Lang has covered COVID-19, the death and trials around Freddie Gray, the Maryland general assembly, the approval of gay marriage, various political campaigns and more, but as a person, Lang picked up the values on the basis of how he lives through Judaism.
Lang is Jewish and celebrates Hanukkah regularly. But with stories of local anti-Semitism attacks in the Baltimore area and national religious hate attacks like the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Lang admits that “it’s hard to separate your own emotions from a story like that.”
“I think it's not so much both sides, you’re not going out and interviewing anti-Semites, but you are talking about the people impacted,” Lang said, adding that it’s important to tell the story as accurately as possible.
“You put it in context. You try as well to get people, leaders, those impacted and let them tell their stories. You do some follow-up. Have things improved? You follow the trials as well.”
Despite being a reporter and understanding that one must report the news objectively, a story centered around an attack against someone’s religion or race will have a different effect internally.
“I thought about my own family in a synagogue on Shabbat,” Lang said regarding the Tree of Life synagogue killings. “My parents might typically be in a synagogue at Shabbat. My brother, his family, my nieces and nephews. I thought this could have been us. It’s very hard to cover a story like that, but you try to separate your own emotions from your professional responsibility.”
Lang has been able to do exactly that, and not let attacks deter how he views the world or his religion. In fact, his family will start celebrating Hanukkah today, which he calls “festive” and said it’s “celebrated mainly in the house.”