When the 5-year-old son of a Mapleton family was kidnapped while walking home from school on Oct. 9, the news media jumped all over it. Let’s face it, kidnapping is a parent’s worst nightmare.
Coverage in the Oct. 10 edition of The Salt Lake Tribune told the facts as known without naming the boy or his parents. The story was clear — the image of a 5-year-old being snatched as he rode his scooter from school was vivid without a name.
In subsequent stories on Saturday and Sunday, The Tribune named the young boy. Other Utah news media did not.
In Monday’s paper, an article on a news conference held by the youngster’s parents did not name the boy, noting, “The boy, whose name is being withheld at the request of the family, was returned . . . ”
The story did not mention that The Tribune named the child in two earlier reports.
According to Terry Orme, managing editor for news for The Tribune, the parents were incensed that the newspaper had identified the child by name twice. When they made their anger known, Orme decided to omit the child’s name in future reports.
They were right to be incensed. In this case, there was no need to name the victim to tell the story.
The lame excuse that people who knew the family knew the name of the boy breaks down under scrutiny. The fact is this: When a newspaper prints a story using a person’s name it makes a permanent record.
And, in the Internet Age, the record is more accessible than ever. I did a Google search on the boy’s name on Friday and what popped up were the stories in The Tribune.
Fortunately, the boy was found relatively unharmed and is back in his family’s arms.
Orme explained that serious discussion took place before naming the boy the first time. “We asked ourselves if we would harm him by naming him. There was no sexual abuse. We talked to his grandfather, who used his name repeatedly. We were told the boy was doing pretty well.”
Additionally, Orme said, “There were editors arguing that the little boy might have been a hero because he did all the right things to survive. I think printing his name humanized him.”
I believe the paper broke one of the cardinal rules of ethical decision making: First, do no harm to the innocent.
Ethical decision making on a newspaper requires an understanding of classical philosophical principles (like the Golden Rule), the mores and beliefs of the public the paper serves, that do no harm to the innocent principle and some hard
scrutiny of what the decision will mean in terms of human lives. In Utah, one of the prevailing shared beliefs is protecting children.
There may be times in the future when a small child is kidnapped and becomes the subject of an Amber alert — taking the child’s identity nationwide — when the name would have to be printed. But, in this instance, there was no Amber alert, the child was found within hours and there was no good reason to print the boy’s identity.
We do not name the victims of sexual assault unless they ask to be named so they can tell their stories.
We normally do not name suspects in crimes until they have been officially charged by prosecutors.
We do not print news concerning lawsuits that people intend to file, until they are filed.
This business of doing no harm to the innocent is serious.
And, it is a part of a newspaper’s credibility. Part of the opinion formed by readers of a newspaper’s credibility is the judgment that the editors and writers seem to use in selecting, reporting and displaying the stories that appear each
day. This decision to print this child’s name did nothing to advance the overall story of the kidnapping and its effect on a community in Utah County. It did nothing to help parents understand how to keep their children safe from harm –
even if they believe they live in the safest community they could find.
It added nothing to the reader’s understanding of the story — most folks can imagine how vulnerable a 5-year-old on a scooter can be without knowing his name.
Naming the fan: The Chicago Sun Times named and gave the workplace of the fan who tipped away a ball hit by Luis Castillo in the eighth inning. Among a throng of fans with their hands outstretched to catch what they thought would be a souvenir game ball, the man who deflected the ball out of Cubs fielder Moises Alou’s hands got death threats from people surrounding him before the inning ended. He had to be escorted from the game by police.
The man’s life has been upended ever since the paper wrote about him.
An article by Seth Mnookian of Newsweek posted on MSNBCcom gets right to the heart of the ethical matter: “That cheap and completely unnecessary scoop [the man's name and work address] could turn one man’s life into a living hell. To what end? Does knowing his name add anything to the story? Does knowing where he works?”
No. And it placed the man’s life in danger in the midst of an emotional reaction to the Cubs’ burnout in the end of the game. If editors and writers at the Sun Times did not understand what the effect of their disclosure could be on the life
of a person who committed no crime while he was legally attending a legal sporting event in a city known for its sports nuts, then perhaps the paper needs some new staffers.
As Mnookian noted, “A journalist’s job is to educate and inform the public. Sometimes, however, there’s a compelling reason for leaving some information out — that’s why most mainstream media outlets don’t identify victims of alleged sex crimes. The name of the Cubs fan shouldn’t have been printed in a mainstream newspaper. It puts him at risk, and it furthers the notion that reporters will do anything for the tiniest amount of buzz, regardless of the possible consequences.”
The Reader Advocate’s phone number is (801) 257-8782. Write to the Reader Advocate, The Salt Lake Tribune, P.O.Box 867, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110. E-mail: reader.advocate@sltrib.com.
This Week’s Stats
47 Number of readers who think The Tribune crossword is “just right”
1 Number of readers angry about headlines in The Tribune
42 Number of readers who “cannot read the type in stories”
2 Readers unhappy about local stories on the front page
