A story on the Internet’s growing influence on surrogate motherhood drew fire this week.
The story chronicled how Web sites, chat rooms and bulletin boards are used to match infertile couples to surrogates – some for hire.
It took substantial research to detail this unregulated practice.
The probe also told of mud-slinging and unsavoury exchanges on some of the sites.
Though the story clearly stated such sites are in the minority, some readers, such as reader Trevor Tymchuk, felt the story exaggerated this element of the cyber community.
“You could write about pretty much any topic (about) the Internet and find . . . people who decide to insult each other. It really took away from an otherwise good article.”
Some of the more profane nicknames and flames quoted were not, in my mind, suitable for a family newspaper.
But Life editor Lesley Ciarula Taylor said it was necessary to specify the language used to show the fear and intimidation such vicious and vulgar language evoked.
“We were careful not to use the worst of it and to make it clear these are fringe groups in the world of surrogacy and infertility,” she said.
A site from Matters Of The Heart was among those accused of mudslinging, coarse language and flaming.
However, Teresa Poteat, who runs the site, said it has never tolerated profanity or abuse. A review of the site by this office found no previous profanity or “flame wars.”
The Star was also accused of a bias against surrogacy. “Your paper’s negative, sensationalized approach to coverage of surrogacy has been a huge disappointment,” Shirley Zager, of the Organization of Parents Through Surrogacy, wrote in an email.
Some of the words in the story were loaded. For example, “pony up” instead of “pay for” and “nine months of inconvenience” to describe the surrogate pregnancy. But over all, the well-crafted piece addressed an important social issue.
A story Tuesday about a Kitchener couple found dead in their home also caused some readers difficulty. That’s because the story reported the victims’ names based on a neighbour’s statements, even though police were withholding them until they could tell the victims’ families.
Norris McDonald, The Star’s Ontario editor, said the names were supplied by and published in our sister paper, the Kitchener-Waterloo Record. They were also broadcast on Kitchener radio and television and were sent to Canadian Press.
“I saw no reason to withhold the names from Star readers when the names were a matter of public record just about everywhere else,” he said.
However, the risk of incorrectly identifying the pair or causing family members to learn of the death through the news are two reasons to have held back the names until police released them. Other media outlets releasing the names is not a good enough reason in my mind.
Finally, the paper got called to task for reporting that a Mississauga councillor charged with corruption, breach of trust and fraud, came from Jamaica in 1969.
Paul Moosie of Mississauga wondered if the paper would have reported the councillor’s origin if he’d emigrated from somewhere else. He accused The Star of bias against Jamaicans. I agree an event that happened more than 30 years ago was not relevant to the issues – a politician being charged with corruption. More sensitivity was needed here.
