Jayce Holt, who was a lovely, kind and friendly little boy, died Wednesday in Rumford. The circumstances of his death are truly tragic, as are the circumstances of every fatality on our roads.

Our reporting staff, myself included, have covered too many of these casualties over the years in our news reporting role. In many cases, we run photographs from the scene of an accident depicting police at work, which we did for the Rumford accident Wednesday afternoon online and Thursday in print.

And, we were quickly and firmly condemned for posting that image.

We understand the criticism.

There’s a very human and very natural phenomenon we see whenever we report bad news in our communities. Local news hurts more than news from away because we care more about the people around us, the people we know, the places we go and the communities where we live.

When we publish bad news that happens elsewhere, those stories become part of the news mix and elicit very little comment. An example would be the fatal school bus crash in New Jersey last year that killed 10-year-old Miranda Vargas and a middle school teacher.

The circumstances of that crash were vastly different than the one in Rumford Wednesday, but a beloved child died in both cases.

What makes the reaction to these two child deaths so different is that many of our readers knew Jayce, they know his family, his schoolmates, and his bus driver. They can place themselves in his mother’s shoes.

Bad news is very different when it happens to someone you know, or at a place you recognize. The images are sharper, the words are more painful, and the loss is much more profound.

And, the reaction is far, far more emotional.

Last year, when Bode and Morgan Miller’s daughter drowned in a friend’s swimming pool, the few comments we received were in support of the couple and sympathy for their loss.

Last year, when we reported the separate drowning deaths of two local youngsters — a 5-year-old Auburn boy and a 13-year-old Lewiston boy — there was plenty of support for the families and sympathy for their respective loss, but the criticism of our reporting was direct and instant.

As awful as the Miller daughter’s death was, the connection we felt to that news paled to the connection felt with children in our own communities.

That we care so deeply about the people right around us is good. It defines community, and it is to be nurtured.

At the same time, journalists can not stop reporting bad news — photos and all — just because the events are painful. Journalism brings public focus to important issues that affect us all, and local journalism drives that focus home. And, sometimes it really hurts.

I’m not asking anyone to temper their reaction to bad news, or trying to convince anyone that strong emotional responses are wrong in any way. I’m just saying that it’s natural and we understand it.

When something bad happens to someone in our communities, the loss is painfully real.

Judith Meyer is executive editor of the Sun Journal, Kennebec Journal and Waterville Sentinel.