An influential Atlanta businessman is arrested and jailed in the United Arab Emirates on a cocaine possession charge.
Is that front-page news? Absolutely. Is it worthy of prominent coverage every day for nearly three weeks? Perhaps not every day, but certainly on days when there are significant developments to report.
For days, I’ve been hearing from readers who think The Atlanta Journal-Constitution went overboard covering the arrest of Dallas Austin, a Grammy-winning music producer who created the theme song for Atlanta’s latest branding campaign.
Austin, 35, is a Columbus native who was arrested May 19 at the Dubai airport. He was charged with possessing cocaine for personal use.
Several readers I talked to said they’d never heard of Austin before his arrest and didn’t care to hear every detail of his detainment, guilty plea and pardon. One reader suggested that the newspaper was sending the wrong message to young people by glorifying the exploits of someone he considered to be nothing more than a cocaine addict.
But writing about Austin and his troubles in Dubai is no different than writing about other celebrities and their brushes with the law. Though we were late confirming and reporting Austin’s troubles (our first story appeared on Page One on June 27), pop music writer Sonia Murray and Cox London correspondent Don Melvin covered the case in an evenhanded, nonjudgmental way.
They gathered details about the arrest and spoke to people who knew Austin. Melvin traveled to the Dubai jail and did several scene pieces from that country that explored typical sentences for people charged with similar drug offenses. Melvin learned that most people in the UAE had never heard of Austin and weren’t that interested in his plight.
A total of 12 stories about Austin appeared in the paper; six were on the front page, and two others on section fronts. The rest ran inside. The volume of coverage may have been too much for some readers, but others came to rely on the print edition and ajc.com for continuous updates.
“When [Braves player] Rafael Furcal was arrested for DUI, a lot of people didn’t know who he was, but Braves fans did. A lot didn’t know who [Thrashers star] Dany Heatley was and didn’t understand what the big deal was, but someone died and we felt it was important [to cover the case],” said Hank Klibanoff, the AJC’s managing editor for news.
Heatley was the driver in a 2003 accident in Atlanta that led to the death of teammate Dan Snyder.
“Dallas Austin was not a household name to many of us, even at this newspaper, but once we learned who he was, we learned he was someone who had significant influence in our society,” Klibanoff said. “The mere fact that people didn’t know who he was doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have covered it. In fact, there were probably a lot of readers who felt illuminated by the coverage.”
While critics say the work of some hip-hop artists objectifies women and promotes a thug culture, hip-hop is a multibillion-dollar industry. Austin is one of several movers and shakers in the industry who call Atlanta home.
He has produced hits for artists such as Madonna, Aretha Franklin and Pink, but he is perhaps best known as a hitmaker for hip-hop artists TLC and Monica. In recent years, Austin produced the films “Drumline,” which focused on black college bands and “ATL,” a coming-of-age story that starred Atlanta rapper T.I.
Last year, he was tapped by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and the Brand Atlanta marketing campaign to create a theme song for the city. The song, “The ATL,” received criticism because some people believed it only appealed to Atlanta’s young black residents.
Atlanta is a diverse city, and this newspaper should reflect that every day. Austin’s accomplishments, along with his generous civic involvement, make his arrest and subsequent pardon in Dubai important news.
Last Saturday’s Page One story from the New York Times about the role in Austin’s pardon played by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and music industry heavyweights such as Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie made for fascinating reading.
Did Austin receive special treatment because of his celebrity status? I think we all know the answer. That aspect of the case alone is enough to justify continued coverage of the case.
