In some circles, it’s known as “a photo op.” They may have not called it that, but that’s what sheriff’s deputies and agriculture officials were offering when they invited journalists to observe while they conducted a sting to arrest people who buy stolen avocados to sell at a profit.
San Diego County is the avocado-growing capital of the United States. As the April 9 Union-Tribune story explained, avocados were a $122-million business in the county in 1997. The same year, growers suffered $300,000 in thefts.
Yes, this was a San Diego County story, as San Diego as fish tacos, Julian apples and Anthony’s fish batter.
Where else would law enforcement have invited the media to go along as officers and agriculture officials went to a swap meet, arranged to sell purportedly stolen avocados to a Hispanic woman, arrested her for a felony and then escorted her out in front of photographers?
Because the media was along on the sting, the woman has become “the poster girl for avocado theft,” Logan Jenkins wrote last Wednesday in a column that appeared only in North County editions.
The newspaper’s role in inspiring that title makes me uncomfortable. It probably stems from the photo of the woman that appeared on page B-1 following her arrest. I’m also uncomfortable with the headline over her photograph in the Union-Tribune’s North County editions on April 9 that said: “Authorities follow the slimy green trail left by avocado thieves.”
The woman accused of buying 120 pounds of stolen avocados was named and shown in this newspaper but law enforcement refused to identify the packing house where state officials seized nearly 10 times as many avocados as were involved in her alleged transaction.
In fact, only two names were released by officials: hers and that of a market in San Marcos raided the same day. The story said the Sheriff’s Department did not want to release the names of others targeted during the four-day sting until formal complaints were filed by the District Attorney’s office “and because of ongoing investigations.” Twelve days later, when Jenkins’ column appeared, the names still had not been released. The woman, however, is no longer facing a felony. Records show she has been charged with a misdemeanor.
By including the media on the sting, law enforcement was trying to make a point. It’s not an uncommon practice. Nearly three years ago, representatives of the Contractors State License Board invited journalists to accompany them while they went after unlicensed contractors preying on victims of the Harmony Grove fire. With cameras rolling, they handcuffed and arrested the owner of a tree trimming and hauling business. He spent a night in jail and had to post $1,000 in bail.
His photo appeared in the Union-Tribune but unlike the woman with the avocados he was not identified. A month later, the district attorney announced no charges would be filed against the tree trimmer. The Union-Tribune ran a lengthy story on the decision that included an interview with the man who said he was angry about the way he had been treated. No photo ran with the story exonerating him.
At least, the woman was given her say in the April 9 story. Reporter John Berhman wrote that she was close to tears, “saying in Spanish that she didn’t know the fruit was stolen and that it was the first time she had done this.” The story also said her name “was released primarily because the news media was invited to go along during the sting.”
Why wasn’t the media invited to observe when one of the operators of a packing house was arrested?
The role of the media in stings worries me, so I took the matter to ethicist Robert Steele of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in Florida. Steele said stings are a legitimate news story that journalists should cover “to see what the story is in terms of the issues involved” but also to “hold law enforcement accountable.”
But Steele had concerns about the avocado story because the woman was the only one the story focused on and because of unanswered questions about her culpability. It was a legitimate story, he said, but the coverage may have been out of proportion.
“Unfortunately, this is what happens with media ride-alongs …that the poor, the lower on the socio-economic level folks, the people of color, are so often the ones who are the easiest targets of these things. The folks who live in high-rises and work in corporate towers and wear the nice suits and ties are less likely to be the ones who are fingered publicly in these situations because they are the ones who have greater protection around them and lawyers to protect them.”
“I have concerns every time we get involved in documenting sting operations,” said Robert York, Union-Tribune photo director. “My concern involves whether or not we are capturing reality or whether we are publishing an orchestrated event. In this case, because of the number of deputies and the resources law enforcement was putting forth on this, I felt it was a fair and representative picture of the events of the day.”
York said the prominence of the story indicated that it was a big event in North County. Had the story run without a photo and without any names, “it would not have brought to the attention of the readers the seriousness of this problem. People humanize stories,” York said.
Ellen Bevier, day metro editor, said the coverage of the woman’s arrest “behooves us to follow the lady’s case thoroughly and if charges are dropped and she is exonerated, make sure that news gets equal play in the paper.”
Stay tuned.
