It was a fair question. Why, when he has been dead almost a year, did The San Diego Union-Tribune, choose to run a story on its front page about Monsignor William Armstrong Kraft and accusations that he molested young people? Some as many as four decades ago.
Why, asked a reader, doesn’t the Union-Tribune let the “story about the Catholic Church scandal die a quick death?” In his view, the bishops have taken action against molesters; it’s time for the news media to move on.
Like some other readers, he was angered by the front-page story July 28 about the late monsignor who had been accused of molesting young people. Not only was the newspaper picking on a dead man, but why do it on a Sunday, a day that’s holy to Catholics?
Other readers were upset that the story, in their eyes, took precedence over a report about the exhilarating rescue of nine miners who had been trapped 240 feet under ground for three days. When I picked up my paper that Sunday morning, the first thing I looked for was the story about the miners. I was gratified to see it in the center of the front page with a large color photograph and a headline in bold capital letters that said: “TRAPPED MINERS SAVED.” The story dominated the page and my attention.
To me it was the most important story of the day. Since Sept. 11, stories about heroism and American can-do have taken on an extra edge. It was only after I read every word of it that I moved on to other articles.
The story about the allegations of sexual abuse, although played on top of the page, was accompanied by a small black and white photo of Monsignor Kraft and the light typeface used for news features.
Some readers saw the article as an attack and accused the newspaper of being anti-Catholic. But others had a different view. Letters published Wednesday spoke of anger toward the Union-Tribune, but they prompted other readers to write in defense of the newspaper. The second batch of letters, some of which were published Saturday, showed that some readers thought the story was very important to local Catholics. Not only was it about the alleged victims and how they suffer to this day, but it also was a look at the bishop’s action.
That’s precisely what it was. It revealed how San Diego Bishop Robert Brom had handled the case once he became bishop and showed that he did not ignore the victims. It revealed Brom was proactive that even before the scandal became headlines across the country, he recognized that he and his diocese had a problem. He took the steps necessary to keep Monsignor Kraft away from children and, ultimately, from the ministry.
Union-Tribune editor Karin Winner said the newspaper decided to write about Kraft because “his story is very much a part of the overall story (and the local part at that) about the revelations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
“One presumes the alleged victims who are living are still suffering from whatever experience they believe took place. I think the story reveals a lot about Bishop Brom and his sincere desire to deal with this situation despite the difficulty quotient. The story showed rare insight into how the local bishop was coping with such circumstances,” Winner said.
“We chose to run it on a Sunday because that is our largest circulation day, and we felt the story was such a powerful and poignant look at one of these cases that as many people as possible should have an opportunity to read it.” Other options were given serious consideration, Winner said. “There was no gleeful clapping of hands or discussion of how we might capitalize on the salacious nature of this story. Believe me, we simply felt it was a compelling example of a priest who may have strayed and the ramifications that alleged behavior carried with it. This is explanatory journalism at its best.”
Tom Mallory, the weekend editor, said the monsignor’s story was news because it had never before been told in its entirety. It revealed how a priest suspected of wrongdoing was promoted (under the former bishop) because of his skills.
In fact, the suggestion that the Union-Tribune should let stories about the scandal “die a quick death” is unthinkable. It’s the newspaper’s responsibility to report the truth even when some prefer that the truth remain hidden. This newspaper would be shirking its responsibility to readers, both Catholic and non-Catholic, if it ignored a story of this dimension. It is as important for the newspaper to report alleged abuse as it is to report the clergy’s response to it.
