For the past several weeks, stories stemming from violent crime have been on Page One and on the Metro section cover of The Oregonian on an almost daily basis. Putting crime into high profile news positions is not the norm for this newspaper.
In 1999, led by Susan Gage, editor of the Crime, Justice and Public Safety Team, editors revised the newspaper’s approach to crime coverage. Their goal was to de-emphasize single instances of crime and instead to put crime into perspective, to provide a realistic view of its effects on our lives.
Editors said they would give prominent play to crimes of magnitude, but minor events would be reported in short stories and roundups. Reporters then would be able to spend most of their time focusing on broader issues.
The result was a more authentic news report. Complaints about overblown crime coverage dropped. Awareness of the changes grew among readers.
Violent events of the past few months have tested those good intentions.
Two families have been murdered. MaryJane Longo and her three children were found in coastal waters in December. Christian Longo, her husband and the children’s father, was arrested in January. Earlier this month, the bodies of Janet and Robert Bryant and their four children were found in their Yamhill County home. The deaths are attributed to Robert Bryant.
In Oregon City, two 13-year-old girls, classmates, are missing, one since early January, the other since early this month. In late February, Portland police fatally shot a man who had threatened to kill a small boy in his care. Two weeks ago a man was gunned down on a downtown Portland street.
Despite these high profile stories, complaints have been few.
One critic, David James of the Stayton area, wrote, “The Oregonian has been edging over the line toward the dark side lately.” Such reporting, he said, “borders on sleaze and gossip.”
Therese Bottomly, managing editor for news, said the philosophy still is to focus on “crime that truly affects us in our daily lives, rather than on random, extraordinary events.”
The disappearance of the second Oregon City girl, for instance, heightened fears not only for the two girls, but also for potential victims.
Journalists walk a narrow line in coverage of the events such as the family murders, Bottomly said. On one hand, “We want to bring meaning to news events.” What could move someone to such terrible acts? On the other hand, she said, “So much is unknowable.” We don’t want to misconstrue what we might not understand.
Most stories have walked that line, but I do have one complaint.
A reader criticized a March 9 story about letters exchanged by Longo and Keith Jesperson, a convicted serial killer in the Oregon State Penitentiary. He said the story was disrespectful of the victims’ families.
I recoiled at that story, too. Jesperson is a publicity-seeker who gained notoriety in 1994 with his anonymous letter to The Oregonian about gruesome murders he had committed. The letter bore a “happy face.”
Bottomly said the story was of interest because for the first time the public had a peek at Longo’s own thoughts.
True enough. However, if Longo’s musings were worthy of notice, the story should have centered on him from the top, and not on the self-promotional Jesperson. His 1994 letter helped clear two innocent people in one murder, but we should ignore him when we can, along with the “Happy Face Killer” nickname bestowed on him by this newspaper.
All in all, however, The Oregonian has handled these recent stories well. Some involve important public safety issues. Others stem from a compelling tangle of human emotions. They are sad aberrations from the norm, and the pages of the newspaper reflected as much.
