Otterblog

A letter we received the other day:

If the Winston-Salem Journal is going to print promotional ads for John Edwards disguised as news articles three days in a row, such as those by James Rosemer run on the front page December 16, 17, and 18, wouldn’t it be simpler and more honest to run an official endorsement of Edwards on your editorial page?

Or are we to assume that you will be running three consecutive days of free front-page promotions for all the candidates in coming weeks?

We dispatched one of our best reporters to Iowa last week to follow the Edwards campaign and to report on the Iowa caucuses. We even started a blog, although it will morph into more general election coverage as the months go by.

The question of whether our political coverage is too Edwardscentric isn’t just an external question. We’ve had the same debate in our newsroom. I think there are a couple of things going on that explain our reasoning.

1) Edwards is a North Carolinian, and the first serious candidate from the state in years. Plenty of people don’t like him, but that’s neither here nor there. To the nation, he is us, and we need to take his candidacy seriously. Not as a booster, but as journalists.

2) The Iowa caucus is a political lifetime away from the North Carolina primary in May, and our readers can’t vote in Iowa. So us looking at the presidential race through the prism of a local candidate doesn’t really alter the outcome. It’s a way to organize coverage and prioritize our resources. For better or for worse, our state’s leaders decided that NC would probably not be a player in choosing the major party candidates. If by some chance, there is still uncertainty about the nominee prior to our primary, I can assure you we will give detailed coverage of candidates (both Dem. and Rep.) ahead of time.

As we move into full holiday mode, a couple of final thoughts.

My posts will likely be minimal in the next week or so (my gift to you all ...) and will get back into full OTTERBLOG mode come 2008.
Have a safe and healthy holiday with family, friends and --- yes, even enemies.
I appreciate all the comments, snide remarks, admonitions and sound advice this past year.

Thnx

I received this email today from the Associated Press about an update to its stylebook:

A new entry has been added to the AP Stylebook:

Allah

The Muslim name for God. The word God should be used, unless the Arabic name is used in a quote written or spoken in English.

The AP spends a lot of time thinking about what to call God. Here’s it’s entry on deities:

DEITIES: Capitalize the proper names of monotheistic deities: God, Allah, the Father, the Son, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Redeemer, the Holy Spirit, etc.
Lowercase pronouns referring to the deity: he, him, his, thee, thou, who, whose, thy, etc.
Lowercase gods in referring to the deities of polytheistic religions.
Capitalize the proper names of pagan and mythological gods and goddesses: Neptune, Thor, Venus, etc.
Lowercase such words as god-awful, goddamn, godlike, godliness, godsend.

As I’ve noted before, names matter. What we call things—whether countries, people or deities—influences how we think of them. Islam is one of the three monotheistic religions that all spring from the same tree of Abraham. Sometimes, it’s hard to divine the intentions behind the AP’s style changes, but I think the point the news cooperative is trying to make is that God is God is God, and that having different religions call what many theologians consider to be the same deity different names is confusing and causes more problems than it solves.

On another front: Here’s how the Philly paper is covering the arrest of the students who have been arrested on identity-theft charges.

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I don’t know how many of you saw the obituary story that ran the other day on C.B. Hauser. He was a remarkable man, one whose life journey was both a mirror and a metaphor of how far we’ve come and how far we have to go.

In researching that story, one of our editors came across a photograph of the story in the Mount Airy News on Hauser’s arrest in 1947 for failing to yield his seat while on a bus. I’ve attached the photo here. It’s a little tough to read, but it’s an incredible glimpse into our past. Hauser is referred to as an “educated negro,” and it’s not clear whether that adjective is used to assert that he a) ought to know better or b) ought to be given more privileges than “uneducated” Negros.

As a journalist, when I look at these stories from the past, I often ask myself “What would I have done.” Injustice is injustice, but journalistic detachment often competes with journalistic compassion for the underdog. I do think that this article was an important piece of journalism, because writing about it—even in the stilted manner in which it was done—showed the ridiculousness of the Jim Crow laws. To report is to acknowledge, and acknowledgement is along the path to respect.

Separately, a quick plug for a pair of fellow bloggers. Our StyleFile blog, which is all about fashion and such, is back on the Web after a shoe closet full of technical problems. Its hosts are Stephanie Stallings and Jeri Young. I told them they should rename it the OTTERCLOG. But they declined. Check it out.

We’ve had some strong comments on the previous post about how much description to use in describing a suspect. There’s a parallel discussion going on about our story today on the couple found dead in their home in northern Davidson County.

The sheriff hadn’t released the IDs of the couple because he said not all the next-of-kin had been notified. But we published the names. As one emailer wrote (and I’m not cleaning up the typos ...)

In todays paper the part about couple found dead at davidson home, you say you are not giving out the names till the next of kin are notified and the you give out the address and then neighbors names, dont you think thats wrong, any body that hasnt been notified would read it in the paper first, same as when a car wreck and u dont give out names but tell the year, make color of the car, every parent or friend readig that and knowing some one with that kind of car would be beside them selfs till they found out it was not their son, daughter or other kin,,,,, I just think it all should be left out of the article untill the police have been able to reach every body and then you could print all the details

We talked about this a great deal last night. And we decided to publish the names when we were certain they were correct. First, the names had been broadcast on local TV. This is not a capitulation to the “everybody is doing it” crowd, but rather a recognition that any embargo was already breached. Second, from a reporting standpoint, it seemed pretty clear that this was as much a story about a neighborhood as it was about violence in the home. The Gallimore’s neighbors knew who they were. To treat them as an abstract “they” seemed wrong.

Now, to get to the point that all of you are waiting for ... Isn’t this hypocritical? The newspaper won’t publish all the information law-enforcement gives it in some cases (suspect descriptions), but publishes more information than given in other circumstances? I think the common thread in both instances is what I would call precision. A name is precise. It narrows it down to one couple. Saying a suspect was a middle-aged white male could be a lot of folks. Looking out my office window I see five people in my narrow range of vision who fit that category. Looking in the mirror, I see a sixth ...

Interesting story in the NY Times today. Toll Brothers CEO blaming the news media for the real-estate mess.

Finally, a little bragging on some of our staff. Our college basketball preview today is incredible, the work of an incredibly dedicated team of reporters, editors, artists and designers. Check it out.

There’s been a lot of discussion in journalism circles of late regarding the use of race as an identifier in crimes stories and briefs. For example, if there was a robbery at the convenience store and the clerk’s description is that the robber was about 6 feet tall and black, is that relevant information for a story. Journal policy has tended to say that isn’t. The reasoning being that the idea behind publishing descriptions of suspects is to give people information that will keep them safe or assist the police in arresting a suspect. A description that has only race and height isn’t specific enough to be of help, but instead just fans racial stereotypes.

This past Friday we wrote about a reported rape in a neighborhood off Country Club Road. We didn’t include the description of the attacker, because it was fairly limited.

Here’s some correspondence we received:

I live near Huntcliff and my son has friends who live there so I heard about the assault yesterday. What I heard was that it was a black male who assaulted the woman. In fact the news last night reported that. Your article, however, makes no mention of this. I find this disturbing in that some people will only read your article and not have knowledge of this very pertinent fact. It is impossible for one to identify someone based on their frame and clothes alone without knowing their race. If it were white man, I would certainly want to know. This is not a racial matter by any means. This is a fact and it is your job to report the facts to the public without fear of being considered racist. Please do so in the future.

Here’s the response sent from one of our editors:

It is the Journal’s policy that we only reveal race, black or white, if there is a specific enough description of a suspect that we feel it will be useful to help catch a person. Typically, this means we would like to see some physical description, clothing description, etc.

If the only description is so vague as it could be just about anyone, then including the race doesn’t do anything except get people’s emotions roiled up, again, whether black or white.

Of course, this is a judgment call on the part of the newspaper each time an incident occurs, but over years of practice, newspapers including the Journal have found it to be a good practice. In this specific case, the description of the suspect did not include enough detail that we believed the inclusion of race ... was warranted. Some, as you do, may disagree, and we will consider this as we do followups.

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Many newspapers have policies similar to ours, but like all policies they are constantly getting tweaked and reevaluated. Here’s what the News & Observer in Raleigh is doing. I’ll be interested to see how it works in practice.

I’m also interested in your thoughts on this issue.

Back from a little R&R ... so I hope this post isn’t too dated, but I think it’s on a more universal point.

Our Sunday story was about the drought. We started working on it in earnest on a Monday, and by Wednesday, the rain was conversation topic No. 1. Sunday stories of the heft and context that we like to publish don’t just get plucked out of thin air. And so, as the weather remained soggy, we were faced with a choice: Bag the drought story and find a substitute or Run the drought story and try to provide the background and spin to show that a few days of rain aren’t the end of our water woes.

We chose the latter, of course. But we had a lot of good discussion about whether that was the right thing to do. I thought it was then—and still do. And not just because it was less stressful than finding another centerpiece. One of the things that newspapers get accused of far too often is switching gears and moving on too soon. What I thought our Sunday story did was outline a larger problem that is bigger than a few days of rain. That said, would I have preferred a week of sunshine before it ran? Of course. You can’t get everything.

Separately, this is an interesting column from the editor of the News & Observer in Raleigh about their changing use of descriptors in police briefs. It’s different from what we do. Would like to hear your thoughts on this.

This is a two-fer....

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Jones Sausage Road in Raleigh, the legacy of Slim Jims, and made reference to Jesse Jones hot dogs. I said I would get back with the rest of that story. Lenox Rawlings, our sports columnist, has the full tale in his Sunday column. As with all of Lenox’s column, there’s an incredible amount of history, grace, sports knowledge and—that rarest of commodities in most sports columnists—restraint wrapped up in 30 or so column inches.

Not everyone is a lover of the dyed-red hot dog, but those who are are apparently very loyal.

I’ve had several people ask me about the ads showing up on the front pages of several sections—sports, travel—and whether they are a permanent addition to our landscape. The answer is ... maybe.  You would be hard-pressed to find an editor who thinks they enhance the appearance of a front page, but the advertising premium for that display space is hard to turn away in this current environment. While it’s of little comfort to many of our readers, high-quality newspapers in many countries have carried front-page ads for years. That’s not a justification for doing something, but it does give you an idea of the varying sensibilities around the world.

Finally, two thoughts from the world of magazines. First, the current issue of Natural History magazine has a very good discussion of the global water crisis/issue. Sometimes, it’s instructive to get up at 30,000 feet and take a look at the big picture, beyond the Yadkin, Dan and Falls of the Neuse Lake. Unfortunately, the article isn’t online (yet.) Second, I ran across an interesting magazine this weekend, called Garden & Gun, which is published by the owners of the Charleston newspaper. It’s a strange mixture of southern lifestyle, the sporting life and whatnot. It’s very glossy. Not quite The New Yorker, not quite Town & Country. We’ll see if it makes it…

snake.JPG

Conflicts of interest are unavoidable in many aspects of life. Eventually, many of us run up against them. There seems to be two camps in deciding what to do about them. The first camp says “when there’s a conflict, walk away.” The second path is to disclose and then go about your business. This happened the other day at CBS, with an interview of the Lynne Cheney done by a correspondent whose husband represented Ms. Cheney in a publishing deal. CBS disclosed the relationship, then did the story.

A similar thing is going on here in Forsyth County, with a deal involving Pat Swann, the chairman of the City-County Utility Commission. We wrote about it this Sunday. Swann disclosed that he is the broker on a real-estate deal that got started in his capacity as a member of the utility commission. He disclosed the relationship to board members , the mayor and the chairman of the county commissioners. Disclosure is honorable at some level, but it doesn’t resolve the conflict. It just acknowledges it and asks somebody else to do something about it.

It’s true that viewers of the CBS broadcast can judge for themselves whether the correspondent was too easy on the vice president’s wife. And the public can decide whether Mr. Swann cut himself a sweet deal. And disclosure is better than hiding the relationships. But I don’t think they are the best routes. It forces decisions by the public after the fact, and those decisions are often quite different than those made on the cusp of a deal.

PHOTO of the WEEK: I rarely post photos, but this one’s too good to miss. It’s a shot from Bethabara this weekend of a small snake. You can see something coming out of its mouth besides its tongue. It was another snake. That is a meal that doesn’t go down easy.

three_mugs.doc

Some followups and quick thoughts ...

A week ago, we ran an exclusive about Wake Forest selling the naming rights to Groves Stadium to BB&T. The reader comments are very interesting and more extensive than for many stories. Two most prevalent threads are 1) that WFU sports may have become a bit flashy for its own good and 2) that BB&T still isn’t considered a hometown company by many people in Winston-Salem. Both are good points of discussion. We do a lot of these reader reactions, and sometimes they click and sometimes they don’t. When they do, it’s an impressive conversation. As it is here.

Several of us had a good chuckle recently with Scott Sexton’s column on the sketch artist who drew the picture of the person of interest in the killing of Jonesville police office Gregory Martin. The sketch looks a fair bit like Adam Lane, the Jonesville trucker charged with murder and assault. And there’s a fair resemblance to Scott as well. The above file has all three mugs side by each.

I was a little bothered this morning by the story we had of the reported rape and assault on the woman in West Virginia. Generally we don’t identify rape victims, but in this case the Associated Press named her, because that was her wish and that of her mother. This is the old classic of just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should.

A couple of quick notes as we head into the Labor Day weekend.

1) Pearls before Swine will disappear on Monday as part of our rotating test of comics to replace Kudzu. F Minus takes its place. If you have comments about either strip, you can send them to or this link on JournalNow. Very different strips. I liked the clean lines of Pearls and the silliness of it all. Will see if F Minus grows on me.

2) We have posted a story about the continuing fallout of the Jill Marker/Kalvin Smith investigation. The city manager is ordering a new review. This comes in part as a result of our initial investigation into the crime and the police and prosecutorial work. Similarly, the story this morning about the eugenics exhibit at the library is based in part on our reporting on the state’s sterilization program. One of the things that newspapers get accused of is having an agenda and pursuing that agenda at the expense of other stories. Agenda is a loaded word. To the extent our resources allow, it is incumbent upon newspapers to report on injustices and not just in an initial report but the follow-ups where the actual decisions are made. I think that at times, readers get a little exasperated. But there’s not a great deal of choice in the matter when it comes right down to it. If we don’t do it, who will.

3) Have a safe and fun Labor Day. Don’t drink and drive, and if you drink and grill, please use a potholder.