[ back ]
Naming names has consequences
(by Dave Lange - August 27, 2008)
Naming names has consequences
People who read more than one newspaper sometimes may wonder why a particular story receives conspicuous play in one of them and no coverage whatsoever in another. A variety of factors can account for those occasions, such as reporters having different news sources and their inability to be in more than one place at a time. Also, news organizations have different policies, independent editorial judgments and, in some cases, agendas.
Last week, the Cleveland daily newspaper and the weekly newspaper chain that's owned by the same corporation both carried a story about a domestic incident that had occurred early in the morning of Aug. 18 in Chagrin Falls. Both of them included the family's name in sizable headlines. But our newspapers didn't carry the story at all.
Why? First of all, our policy on police reporting is to identify adults who are charged with crimes but not those who may be suspects or under investigation. Furthermore, we make a concerted effort not to identify crime victims. That poses a challenge in cases of domestic violence, when identification of perpetrators also would identify victims who share last names. So our reports generally do not name those who are charged in domestic incidents.
In last week's Chagrin Falls incident, nobody was charged with any crime, so our policy was clear on not naming names.
However, there are exceptions to rules.
One of the primary news values is prominence. That means that a well-known individual is more likely to draw media attention than an average citizen, even in connection with a relatively minor incident, simply because his behavior is of greater public interest. That consideration was applicable to the situation in Chagrin Falls.
It is, no doubt, what led the other weekly newspaper to name the individual involved, even though it sometimes doesn't identify people who actually are arrested for crimes. It also is why the daily newspaper published the story, even though such incidents seldom attract its interest.
Because of his political activities and previous encounters with the law, the prominent man who was involved in last week's domestic dispute has, in fact, received intense media scrutiny for quite some time. The daily newspaper has raised his name in connection with political scandal so repeatedly and accusingly over the past month that some readers may be convinced that it's part of a vendetta, not just an agenda to impose its will on governmental functions.
While the prominence factor may have been sufficient reason for us to override our policy on naming names in police matters, we decided against running with it for yet another element in the story. It involved two young children who have been the subject of a custody battle between the prominent man and his ex-wife.
It was a disagreement between the parents over the welfare of their children that drew police into the fray to begin with, which would come as no surprise to anyone familiar with ugly divorces. Of course, the parents had different interpretations of the incident, and the children were pawns caught in the middle.
Perhaps the prominent father deserves the exposure. Maybe the less prominent mother does as well. But we decided that the children deserved some consideration, which is something they probably could use more of.
[ back ]
