We don't create the news, we report it
More than once readers have left messages on the Reader Representative line complaining about the subject of a news story.
Whether it is a home invasion robbery in their neighborhood that they think might affect their property value or a sexual assault report that they don't want to have to explain to their children, readers need to recognize that we simply are doing our job.
We obviously have editors who are making content decisions, but those generally have more to do with placement and prominence of a story than whether or not we report it.
We certainly have standards. We don't report the names of victims of sexual assault, nor do we run photographs of the bodies of murder victims or similarly gruesome images. But we do report the news.
Similarly, friends or family members have called to share information about mistakes in stories that they thought we needed to correct.
Though we are happy to record their version of the facts, we don't automatically run a correction based on their information.
In both situations, we might enhance a story with personal comments, but we get our official information from official sources.
When we get such a call, we refer to official law enforcement agency reports of a crime or accident, and sometimes go back to the reporting officer to determine if there were inaccuracies in the information we received.
Generally, we have been given wrong information in those instances.
That's not meant to criticize the authorities, but to point out that they frequently are doing multiple tasks at one time, including investigating the scene, dealing with victims or family members and dealing with the media.
It's understandable that they sometimes make mistakes, just as we all do.
In one instance, an irate family member called to dispute a story in our newspaper reporting her arrest. She was sobbing about how we had ruined her life and spewing threats about lawyers and lawsuits. I told her I believed her, but had to double-check with authorities.
As expected, when the investigating officer returned the telephone call, they had discovered that the woman's sister, who was the person actually arrested, had given a false identity -- that of her law-abiding sister. The caller had every reason to be very upset -- she just picked the wrong target for her wrath.
Even in the case of obituaries or deceased notices, we require information from the funeral home and/or proof of death in order to publish them.
Yes, there are people who might think a joke about someone's death would be funny.
Now, as much as we appreciate the tales of Tom Sawyer, we don't want to participate in that joke, which in reality would be on us. So we get our information from official sources or with official documentation.
And, when we make a mistake, which we still sometimes do, we correct it.
* On another note, the Beaumont Enterprise Sports section already has made some content changes and later this month will be the last of The Enterprise sections to undergo a change in appearance.
Among the recent content changes is a daily glance at Major League Baseball standings, which includes scores and schedules for all 30 teams, as available; a Houston Astros' box score, also as available; and a game story when the Astros are playing.
Sometimes complete information is not available, depending on when and where the games are played and if any of them go into extra innings.
On Sundays, the sports section now includes an expanded weekly agate package including:
* An expanded MLB glance, which includes more categories than the daily information;
* Astros' season stats;
* The previous week's daily line scores and season statistics for all Southeast Texans in the major leagues including Jay Bruce of the Reds and Kevin Millar of the Blue Jays;
* Season statistics for all locals in the minor leagues;
* A table of major league leaders in batting average, hits, home runs, ERA, etc.;
The sports section no longer will run a full page of box scores as has been the tradition in recent seasons. Both deadlines and space considerations make that impossible.
As this column has pointed out more than once in the past, newspapers are an evolving product and change is part of that evolution. This is just one of the latest examples of that phenomenon.
Whether it is a home invasion robbery in their neighborhood that they think might affect their property value or a sexual assault report that they don't want to have to explain to their children, readers need to recognize that we simply are doing our job.
We obviously have editors who are making content decisions, but those generally have more to do with placement and prominence of a story than whether or not we report it.
We certainly have standards. We don't report the names of victims of sexual assault, nor do we run photographs of the bodies of murder victims or similarly gruesome images. But we do report the news.
Similarly, friends or family members have called to share information about mistakes in stories that they thought we needed to correct.
Though we are happy to record their version of the facts, we don't automatically run a correction based on their information.
In both situations, we might enhance a story with personal comments, but we get our official information from official sources.
When we get such a call, we refer to official law enforcement agency reports of a crime or accident, and sometimes go back to the reporting officer to determine if there were inaccuracies in the information we received.
Generally, we have been given wrong information in those instances.
That's not meant to criticize the authorities, but to point out that they frequently are doing multiple tasks at one time, including investigating the scene, dealing with victims or family members and dealing with the media.
It's understandable that they sometimes make mistakes, just as we all do.
In one instance, an irate family member called to dispute a story in our newspaper reporting her arrest. She was sobbing about how we had ruined her life and spewing threats about lawyers and lawsuits. I told her I believed her, but had to double-check with authorities.
As expected, when the investigating officer returned the telephone call, they had discovered that the woman's sister, who was the person actually arrested, had given a false identity -- that of her law-abiding sister. The caller had every reason to be very upset -- she just picked the wrong target for her wrath.
Even in the case of obituaries or deceased notices, we require information from the funeral home and/or proof of death in order to publish them.
Yes, there are people who might think a joke about someone's death would be funny.
Now, as much as we appreciate the tales of Tom Sawyer, we don't want to participate in that joke, which in reality would be on us. So we get our information from official sources or with official documentation.
And, when we make a mistake, which we still sometimes do, we correct it.
* On another note, the Beaumont Enterprise Sports section already has made some content changes and later this month will be the last of The Enterprise sections to undergo a change in appearance.
Among the recent content changes is a daily glance at Major League Baseball standings, which includes scores and schedules for all 30 teams, as available; a Houston Astros' box score, also as available; and a game story when the Astros are playing.
Sometimes complete information is not available, depending on when and where the games are played and if any of them go into extra innings.
On Sundays, the sports section now includes an expanded weekly agate package including:
* An expanded MLB glance, which includes more categories than the daily information;
* Astros' season stats;
* The previous week's daily line scores and season statistics for all Southeast Texans in the major leagues including Jay Bruce of the Reds and Kevin Millar of the Blue Jays;
* Season statistics for all locals in the minor leagues;
* A table of major league leaders in batting average, hits, home runs, ERA, etc.;
The sports section no longer will run a full page of box scores as has been the tradition in recent seasons. Both deadlines and space considerations make that impossible.
As this column has pointed out more than once in the past, newspapers are an evolving product and change is part of that evolution. This is just one of the latest examples of that phenomenon.
posted by Sheila Friedeck at 3:48 PM
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