ARTICLE: Please report with care

I am writing to you in grief and in anger.

I cried when I saw my son’s face on your front page, and I’m still crying as I write this. The story was lurid, one-sided and made him seem like a monster. He is a gentle person, misguided and taking responsibility for his mistakes, but he is not a threat to your readers.

I understand the need to report the news. But I also urge you to reconsider the way you do so, and to consider the difference between public safety and sensationalism. In a close-knit community like ours, it’s easy to ruin a life with a few columns of ink.  

For this very reason, newsrooms across the country are changing the way they report on crime. Many have elected not to publish “mugshots.” Others have decided to use more sources for their story beyond the police report. In my son’s case, doing so would have shown that he is not a menace to our community. It would also have shown that the facts of his case are a great deal more nuanced than would appear.

I appreciate your duty to keep us informed as a community. But I beg you, from the depths of my anguished mother’s heart, to lead with compassion, too.

MARIE BELL

Hayden