Trooper Story Questions

The recent news of allegations against several Troopers brings alot of questions to the media's coverage.

On Monday December 11th the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office confirmed on their website that they were conducting a criminal investigation into an alleged sexual assault in which one or more of the suspects was a Trooper. The three sentence release just opened up pandora's box. I can not say I have seen other law enforcement agencies put out such a release before. I also dont know under what law OPRA, Executive Order 69, or any other law that a suspect is identified by his job prior to charges.

Then at 11pm WPVI the ABC affiliate out of Philadelphia has the entire story including the victim's college, the rank of the officers involved and a picture of the house where the incident took place. The Star-Ledger and Trenton Times followed the next several days. In each case they kept identifying where the victim attends school and the positions the Troopers held.

The media is doing no one a service with their reporting. It does not matter where you stand on the story, right now the reporting is bad for all involved. The victim has had her identity partly disclosed with no justification. If you have a 25 year old female friend who is a graduate student at Rider University and goes to Kat Man Du nightclub there is a good chance she was the victim. The Troopers have had their agency, their jobs, and their home all provided to the media - without a single charge.

This has all the making of the Atlanta Olympic Bombings media fiasco. Lets not all print whatever our sources are providing without checking the agendas behind the stories. I guareentee you that whatever is the end result, the woman, the Troopers, and the public are not better served by the reporting.

Copy Editor Needed

I am sure it is not easy to put out a daily paper, but please read the story before the headline goes on. The case below is from The Home News Tribune. I did not post the first couple of headline errors I read this month - but come on. If the dateline is Old Bridge why put Woodbridge in the headline. As it turns out the bones were found in Old Bridge.


COPS FIND BONES IN WOODBRIDGE

OLD BRIDGE: Police on Tuesday were investigating the discovery of bones, reported to be human bones, in a wooded area off Perrine Road, according to Lt. Ross Moltisanti of the township Police Department.

No further details were available, Moltisanti said, because township police detectives were still investigating.

Staff report

You Can't Have It Both Ways

In the Saturday December 1st editions of The Star-Ledger columnist Mark DiIonno makes a compelling argument as to why anonymous postings are bad for free speech. He argues that if what you say is worth saying then you should put your name to it. He gives great historical examples of where famous New Jersey residents have lost their liberty or their life standing behind what they said.

He brings the topic up because of the current rage about a person making postings in a Manalapan forum. The person has some inside information and is putting a slant onto it in the forums. Manalapan wants to know the person's identity.

DiIonno goes on to point out that the Declaration of Independence was a form of free speech but the people who supported it put their names in bold print for all to see. He finishes by explaining that free speech is not free.

So I thought about it and believed he made some valid points. Only one problem. Every Sunday The Star-Ledger publishes a column called the Auditor which covers all the behind the scenes Trenton gossip without attributing it to any one author. That just flies in the face of everything DiIonno said. IT IS CALLED HYPOCRISY.

Newspapers - Internet Responsibility

The Internet has taken reporting news to a new level. Today many people can report on news from blogs to chat rooms. The difficulty is deciding the agenda behind these citizen reporters,the facts being presented, and what follow up needs to be done.

All newspaper web sites are moving towards having greater public participation. Take for example this weeks unveiling of the new Asbury Park Press website. The new site seems inviting and emphasises local stories. It seems easy to navigate and submit stories.

So I checked out the stories submitted and found Bonny had written about homeless shelter's in the Red Bank area. She questioned the requirements to get into shelters and why there were not more options for such an affluent area. In my mind she raised several valid points and the timing of her story around the holidays and with colder weather moving into the State made for an interesting article. Only one problem, even though the story is on their website I can not find any follow by the paper. It appears that the topics discussed were not assigned to any reporter to follow. I have no idea if it is legal to turn away people from a shelter because they lack identification. I can not tell if any elected official is upset with the situation. I do not know how many people are turned away from the homeless shelter or how many are housed at the shelter. There is no perspective from the various religious communities about the situation. In essence I have a posting about a potential problem but no follow up.

If newspapers are going to create greater public involvement in their industry they still need to meet their burden of reporting on the stories they post.

No shelter for the homeless
By bonny • Reader Submitted • November 28, 2007

What’s this?
If you have a record, if you don't have picture ID, you cannot be referred to the area shelter at Fort Monmouth. Unfortunately, these prerequisites leave out quite a few people.

I can only speak in regards to the Red Bank area, where I have found no place to refer homeless men for over-night shelter in this progressively chilly weather.

CheckMate, on the grounds of Fort Monmouth, can only take people after a background check and picture ID. This leaves a gaping hole in the system.

Most of my contact with the homeless has been men, with a record and without ID.

The Salvation Army's new facilitate on Newman Springs Road, although huge, does not have any beds.

As far as I know there is some help for women and children through local churches. Could I be wrong, maybe there's some shelter just waiting to accommodate these unfortunate people.

Surely, in such a wealthy and caring county we provide appropriately for our poor.