Originally written Spring 2009
One Year Anniversary of the Parkersburg Tornado
Tracie Van Hauen endured the Parkersburg tornado, her 6-foot-4-inch body huddled beneath the basement stairs of her new home. Minutes later, she emerged a different person. The scratches from the debris have healed, but the emotional scars are still embedded deep within Tracie, though every day she progresses toward her goal.
“I’m just trying to get back to normal,” Van Hauen said.
During a series of email and phone call conversations, she relived her experience with the tornado that completely demolished her first home not even one year ago. Van Hauen, 28, purchased her home in Parkersburg in February 2008, and had just spent three months renovating it.
She survived the mile-wide EF5 tornado that took the lives of seven people in Iowa and destroyed nearly half the town of Parkersburg. Nine months later, she and her family are still dealing with the aftershock. Her father, Dale, still hasn’t recovered emotionally, and he doesn’t like to talk about it, Van Hauen said.
Originally from Wellsburg, Iowa, Van Hauen grew up the middle child of a medical secretary at McFarland Clinic in Marshalltown, Rosie, and a manager at Heartland Coop in Grundy Center, Dale. While attending Wellsburg-Steamboat Rock High School, Van Hauen participated in basketball, volleyball, softball and track. She graduated with a degree in marketing from the University of Northern Iowa, and got a job doing inside sales and purchasing at Iowa Sports Supply. Her favorite baseball team is the Boston Red Sox.
But when it comes to playing a sport, her father’s interest affects her favorite choice.
“My dad is a huge basketball fan,” she said. “He didn’t know as much about volleyball, so he couldn’t really dog me on it.” Volleyball was her favorite, though she admitted basketball was her best.
“She was the star of the team,” her cousin Michael Paterni, 21, said with a giggle, noting Van Hauen’s modesty. “But she’d never admit that.”
Before the tornado, Van Hauen enjoyed storms. Not because she finds them calming or exciting, but because they’re part of nature.
“It was cool to watch lightning,” she said. “Not anymore.”
Van Hauen used to stand outside with her father to watch tornados in towns far from them. She would only get upset if thunderstorms woke her up in the middle of the night.
Before the tornado, Van Hauen said she was very independent, leaning really only on her close-knitted family for help and support. She usually visited them once or twice a week. Aside from them, she wanted to do things on her own, she said.
“She’s just a strong person,” Paterni said to describe her attitude. “She usually doesn’t need help, and she likes it that way.”
With the help of her close family, Van Hauen spent three months renovating her Parkersburg home and by the time she finally moved in, it looked just the way she had always pictured her first house to look like, she said.
“I loved that house.”
She moved into the house nine days before the tornado struck. It was gone in less than 30 seconds.
“The day of the tornado was my dad’s birthday,” - Sunday, May 25, 2008, Tracie Van Hauen said.
That day was picturesque—a small-town Iowa family gathered to celebrate the father’s birthday. Dad, Mom, grandma, her sister and boyfriend, were there. And Van Hauen’s little spaniel puppy Bandit joined the family.
“They arrived around noon and we all had dinner at my new house,” Van Hauen said.
She still had a few more things to put into place before the renovations were completed, so she and her father did a few more little projects around her house. She said she’s not sure what everyone else did. Around 3:00 p.m., her family left.
She had just laid down for a nap with Bandit when her cell phone rang. Her father, about 20 miles from her, could see that the sky was black over in her direction.
“I could see that it was raining, the biggest rain drops I had ever seen,” Van Hauen said. But then the rain stopped. Her father told her to “keep an eye on the sky.”
Shortly after she got off the phone with her father, her sister Sara called. There was a tornado spotted in Ackley, she said—just 10 miles away. Immediately after she hung up, her mother called. The tornado was not in Ackley. It was in Aplington, just four miles away.
“I got a little more concerned,” Van Hauen said.
She turned on the news. “Take cover immediately,” the anchor said.
She grabbed her puppy Bandit and headed down into her basement, but because her basement was “really cold down there” she came back up to grab a blanket, chair, and a soda. When she was on her way back down into the basement, the siren went off. 6-foot-4-inch Van Hauen sat huddled beneath the stairs and placed Bandit on her lap.
“I still didn’t think very much of it because you never think it will actually happen,” Van Hauen said. She called her father but told him everything was fine.
Then she heard fire truck sirens going by her house, and the electricity flicked off.
“I got scared,” Van Hauen said. She saw a black cloud heading for the window.
The tornado hit the ground at 4:56 p.m.
“As soon as the tornado hit I smelled dirt from the fields,” she said.
Sitting under the basement stairs, talking to her father on the phone, Van Hauen heard her roof tearing off and began screaming that the tornado had hit her house. Her dad was already on his way. He handed the phone to her mother.
“I kept saying that the tornado was taking my house and then I didn’t hear her anymore,” Van Hauen said. “I was having a hard time of keeping the phone by my ear and hanging on to Bandit. He was running around in circles on my lap.”
Van Hauen said she wasn’t sure when it was safe to come up from the basement; “It sounded like it was gone and then swirled back around.” Finally, she decided to go up.
“It was dark in the basement, but I thought that I probably just lost some of the roof,” she said.
While walking up the basement stairs, Van Hauen noticed debris on them. Wearing flip-flops, she had to look down to watch where she was walking. When she reached the top of the stairs, she saw that her car was sitting where the garage used to be. The garage was completely gone.
After finally leaving the basement, Van Hauen entered the first floor of her house.
“As I turned to my right, I saw the utter devastation and disaster,” she said. “My kitchen wall was gone and I could see the neighbors and street behind me. The block was completely leveled. Not even a wall was left standing.”
After repeatedly trying to contact her family though various phone calls and voicemails, Van Hauen finally received a phone call from her sister and was told she was on her way with her boyfriend and his family. After that, Van Hauen couldn’t get a signal on her phone.
She then went to check on her neighbors and made sure they were OK. Her father, mother, grandma, and sister arrived and together they began the quest to salvage everything they could. They didn’t really have time to cry, she said.
“We heard about the tornado, but that’s all we knew,” her cousin Michael Paterni said. “We decided to see what was going on. It was kind of shocking. We didn’t realize it was that bad.”
Paterni and his family arrived to help.
“‘Welcome to hell’” was Van Hauen’s greeting, Paterni recalled.
Although Van Hauen can’t remember the comment, she said it would certainly describe the scene.
While Van Hauen’s big family were working to salvage her items, it down-poured and hailed twice on them; but they all stayed to help her clean up.
“Those hours are kind of blurry,” she said.
Later that night at her parents’ home, the ordeal caught up with her.
“I lost it,” Van Hauen said. She cried for half an hour.
After a night with nearly no sleep and hours spent doing laundry, Van Hauen was able to go back to her house in Parkersburg to finish going through her belongings.
“We spent most of the day there going through everything,” she said. “I got in touch with my insurance agency and they came around lunch time. I got my claim settled and a check on the spot.”
The check was enough to pay off her mortgage on her house and her home repair loan. It allowed her to make a down payment on her new car and house in Cedar Falls. It was a relief for her because she knew then that she could start over again, without any debt, she said. She sold her house lot to neighbors, who now use it as a yard.
A week after the tornado, she even brought supplies to donate to other victims at Aplington Middle School with her mom.
Losing a sense of her independence, Tracie received help from other people. About 40 people from Wellsburg came to Parkersburg to help tear down Tracie’s house the Saturday after the tornado; and Tracie received cards, gifts, and money from family, friends, and strangers. She said at first she didn’t want to take their money.
“I had to learn how to ask and accept help,” she said. “But I knew I needed it. I didn’t know where to start.”
Right after the tornado, Van Hauen said it was hard to make decisions and to commit, and her usual enjoyment of storms diminished.
“Now whenever it rains, I get scared. I hate thunder and wind,” she said. “Even this winter, when it’s very windy outside, the noise freaks me out and I have to remind myself that a tornado won’t happen.”
When the thunder rattles the windows, her heart beats faster. Every time it rains, she thinks of tornados. Sometimes her friends and coworkers will laugh about it, but Van Hauen can’t help it, she said.
“I have to remind myself to take a couple deep breaths,” she said. “I tell myself not to worry because it’s fine.”
Van Hauen is getting closer to becoming her normal self again. Although she was on sleeping pills after the tornado, a flight to Orlando, Fla., in August on a work trip helped her get over it.
“It was good to get out,” she said. “The trip helped decompress it.”
Unlike her father who is just now getting past the tornado’s effects, Van Hauen has never had a problem talking about it.
“It’s just something that I have to learn to live with and work through,” she said. “Each time I talk about it, it seems to get easier.”
Van Hauen said her father, Dale, is still too upset about the tornado to talk about it, but he is getting better. Always a builder, he worked hard renovating her Parkersburg home before the tornado.
“He probably spent more hours fixing my house than I did,” she said.
Dale was the first one to arrive after the tornado struck his daughter’s house, and it hurt him a lot, she said. He swore never to build again.
“But these last few months, he’s been getting back in his workshop,” she said. “He’s making stuff for the baby.”
Her sister Sara had a baby, Caden Dale, in early February, and Tracie has been very involved with him. Every weekend since his birth, Tracie visits her sister and her newborn baby, and they continue to hold phone conversations several times a day, she said.
“I am as involved as I can be, living 30 miles away,” she said, noting that she buys things all the time for Caden, who she says has her sister’s nose and their father Dale’s dark hair.
Van Hauen visited Parkersburg earlier this year and was surprised to see that there are “quite a bit of houses” back up, she said.
She’s busy renovating her 1960s style home in Cedar Falls, though she has no plans to completely “gut” the home as she did in Parkersburg. She purchased it in mid-August.
“I’ve spent a lot of time painting and shopping [for the new house]”, she said. One of the main goals she would like to accomplish this year is to “get this house and yard done.” Van Hauen just wants to be done so she can come home, relax, and spend time with her family, she said.
She chose Cedar Falls because it’s closer to her work, and after her check she could afford to live there. She didn’t have to worry about rebuilding in Parkersburg.
Although Van Hauen is not sure of any plans to visit Parkersburg on the anniversary of the tornado, she knows it will probably be a difficult day. But she has encouraging words for others dealing with natural disasters.
“It’ll make you stronger,” she said. “Just know that you’ll get through it.”
At her old address of 918 Highway 57, there now lie three planted trees.
“I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit lately, because a year ago I [bought] the house in [Parkersburg],” she said. “It’s not something I consciously think about but one second can bring it all back in an instant.”
Monday, May 16, 2011
Skeletons
Originally written Spring 2009
“Des Moines police: Babysitter flees as thief hides”
The Des Moines Register covered the Tuesday, March 31, 2009, arrest of a man who reportedly stole a car from a woman in Des Moines, fled from police, and hid inside a building. Once arrested, he was found to have cocaine hidden in his sock. He is charged with second-degree theft, second-degree burglary, possession with intent to deliver illegal drugs, and eluding police. He is being held on $66,000 bond.
According to police, Conall Robinson, 38, of Minneapolis, stole a car belonging to Christine Taggart, 37, of Des Moines. Robinson drove the car away, and police pursued him. Robinson then ran inside a building to hide, where Virginia McMillian was babysitting. Police said McMillian ran out of the apartment and told officers where Robinson could be located. Once he had been arrested, the officers said they found “individually wrapped pieces of crack cocaine” in Robinson’s sock. The police took Taggart to the scene of the arrest, where she identified Robinson as the person who took her car. She then drove the car home.
After reading this story, I have several questions involving Robinson, Taggart, and McMillian that were left unanswered by the reporter that covered this arrest. I want to know more about Robinson’s past encounters with the law, as well as why he was even in Des Moines considering he’s from Minnesota. I want to know more information about the alleged car theft, and definitely more information about the site of the arrest and the babysitter.
First of all, Robinson could have past run-ins with the law, considering he not only stole a vehicle, but he also ran from the police and hid in a building. He also had cocaine on his person. From my perspective, this is probably not his first arrest. I did a trial courts search in both Minnesota and Iowa using the name “Conall Robinson.” In Minnesota, the names that resulted from the search were “Cornell Robinson” who was born in December 1970—which fits the age the news story provides for Robinson, even though the first name is different. It could be the same Robinson for whom I was looking. The crimes of Cornell Robinson occurred between 1991 and 2006, and they involved cocaine, theft, burglary, disorderly conduct, drug paraphernalia, fleeing a police officer, weaponry without a permit, crack cocaine, violation of a restraining order, theft from a person, impersonating an officer, theft of a vehicle, kidnapping, assault, robbery, marijuana, driving after revocation, and loitering with intent to sell. There are 22 cases for Robinson. I’m not sure if this is the same Robinson, but these crimes seem to fit. In Iowa, according to Iowa Courts Online, my search resulted in four cases: three were for Cornell Robinson, and one was for Conall Robinson. Two of these cases involved the city of Des Moines. An important bit of information that I found is that the birthdays for Conall and Cornell Robinson are the same, which provides evidence for me that the two names are for the same person.
If this is the case, the charges in Robinson’s cases are pretty damning. I want to know why this man is out in public, especially in Iowa. I cannot view all of the details of his cases so I do not know all of his punishments, but surely there is something that could prohibit him from being in Iowa? He seems to be a repeat offender for a few of his past arrests, especially theft and cocaine—is he in Des Moines for a drug sale? Why is he in Iowa? Shouldn’t there be more information said about him in the news story? This isn’t his first arrest; this would be about his 27th or so. What’s going to happen to him? The Des Moines Register doesn’t say—they simply state that he is being held in jail on $66,000 bond (which I thought was high before I read his previous criminal history). Will there be a trial? Could he go to jail? What’s the deal? The story doesn’t tell me.
The story also doesn’t tell me much information about the cocaine that was found on him. It seems strange to me that a man kept it in his sock after the whole business of allegedly stealing a car, running from the police, and then hiding in a building. Why didn’t he throw it out so as not to receive another charge against him? I understand that it’s potential money but if he’s about to be arrested anyway, shouldn’t he have hidden it or something prior to being arrested? And how did the police find it anyway? Did Robison walk with a limp or something due to the crack cocaine, so they checked his feet? Which foot was it on? How much crack was stuffed in his sock and how big was it? What made the officers notice the cocaine? The news story doesn’t say anything about it.
I also want to know more about how he allegedly stole Taggart’s car. How did he steal it? Was the car locked or unlocked? Did Robinson break a window? Was a window rolled down? Did he somehow have the keys? The story doesn’t have an interview with Taggart or Robinson to straighten this out. Why did Robinson steal it in the first place? He is in Iowa from Minnesota, so I’m assuming he had some access to transportation. Did anybody ask Robinson why he took the car? Was it just something to do because he could easily get in the car, or did he just really want it for a disguise while selling drugs? We don’t know. Did he damage the car? The story says Taggart drove her car home from the scene of the crime, so it couldn’t have been too damaged. Was the car examined first or anything? Perhaps Robinson had cocaine in both socks and some fell out of his other sock and it’s in the car? I need more information.
I also did a trial court search on Iowa Courts Online for Taggart just to see if there was anything interesting; there were seven results for a Virginia Taggart that was born in October 1961—which fits the age provided by the news story. I could only read a little about the cases, some information for them wasn’t provided, but she did have a ticket for using a vehicle without registration. This doesn’t tell me too much about Taggart but it does tell me that this isn’t the first case involving her car.
Finally, I want to know more information about McMillian, the babysitter. In the news story it says that she was babysitting and “ran” out to police to tell them where Robinson was hiding. I want to know how old she is. In an attempt to find her age, I did another Iowa Courts Online search for Virginia McMillian. The birth year is 1961, so if this is the same McMillian, she is about 48. I want to know if she really “ran” outside, or was she slower, and more careful? And when she “ran” outside, did she take the child(ren) with her or did she leave the child(ren) in the apartment? Who was she babysitting anyway? Where they young children? Is she related to them? How many were there? Did she see Robinson or hear him? Did he know she saw him? Did he break into the apartment she was in? I want more specifics so that I can find out more about her.
One person that commented on this story online said that McMillian must be a hero if she took the kids out with her and saved them. Was she more heroic than the story leads readers to believe? Finally, I looked into her cases which totaled 36, though some were for her children who were juveniles at the time, but most were cases against her: prostitution in 1993, driving without a license or permit more than 6 times, an issue involving a rental property, 5th degree “criminal mischief,” a violation of financial liability coverage, and more that I didn’t read due to the length of her record. So, basically, I want to know who let her babysit the kids—Is McMillian fit, rather, to do so? She has a lot of issues with driving legally, obeying traffic signs and whatnot, so is she driving these kids around? I suppose not all these questions are needed since she isn’t the main person in this story, but her records do make me question her babysitting job.
Along with this, I find the headline—“Des Moines police: Babysitter flees as thief hides”—misleading. It says to me that either the babysitter is the main person in the story or that the babysitter seemed afraid and fled. It doesn’t say she ran out to tell the officers about Robinson’s whereabouts. A better headline is needed. Also, I’m not sure the photo of the African-American Robinson is necessary.
It seems to me that this story is a skeleton of what the real story should be. It has the backbones but nothing else. The extra information the Des Moines Register left out is necessary to fill the whole body of the story.
“Des Moines police: Babysitter flees as thief hides”
The Des Moines Register covered the Tuesday, March 31, 2009, arrest of a man who reportedly stole a car from a woman in Des Moines, fled from police, and hid inside a building. Once arrested, he was found to have cocaine hidden in his sock. He is charged with second-degree theft, second-degree burglary, possession with intent to deliver illegal drugs, and eluding police. He is being held on $66,000 bond.
According to police, Conall Robinson, 38, of Minneapolis, stole a car belonging to Christine Taggart, 37, of Des Moines. Robinson drove the car away, and police pursued him. Robinson then ran inside a building to hide, where Virginia McMillian was babysitting. Police said McMillian ran out of the apartment and told officers where Robinson could be located. Once he had been arrested, the officers said they found “individually wrapped pieces of crack cocaine” in Robinson’s sock. The police took Taggart to the scene of the arrest, where she identified Robinson as the person who took her car. She then drove the car home.
After reading this story, I have several questions involving Robinson, Taggart, and McMillian that were left unanswered by the reporter that covered this arrest. I want to know more about Robinson’s past encounters with the law, as well as why he was even in Des Moines considering he’s from Minnesota. I want to know more information about the alleged car theft, and definitely more information about the site of the arrest and the babysitter.
First of all, Robinson could have past run-ins with the law, considering he not only stole a vehicle, but he also ran from the police and hid in a building. He also had cocaine on his person. From my perspective, this is probably not his first arrest. I did a trial courts search in both Minnesota and Iowa using the name “Conall Robinson.” In Minnesota, the names that resulted from the search were “Cornell Robinson” who was born in December 1970—which fits the age the news story provides for Robinson, even though the first name is different. It could be the same Robinson for whom I was looking. The crimes of Cornell Robinson occurred between 1991 and 2006, and they involved cocaine, theft, burglary, disorderly conduct, drug paraphernalia, fleeing a police officer, weaponry without a permit, crack cocaine, violation of a restraining order, theft from a person, impersonating an officer, theft of a vehicle, kidnapping, assault, robbery, marijuana, driving after revocation, and loitering with intent to sell. There are 22 cases for Robinson. I’m not sure if this is the same Robinson, but these crimes seem to fit. In Iowa, according to Iowa Courts Online, my search resulted in four cases: three were for Cornell Robinson, and one was for Conall Robinson. Two of these cases involved the city of Des Moines. An important bit of information that I found is that the birthdays for Conall and Cornell Robinson are the same, which provides evidence for me that the two names are for the same person.
If this is the case, the charges in Robinson’s cases are pretty damning. I want to know why this man is out in public, especially in Iowa. I cannot view all of the details of his cases so I do not know all of his punishments, but surely there is something that could prohibit him from being in Iowa? He seems to be a repeat offender for a few of his past arrests, especially theft and cocaine—is he in Des Moines for a drug sale? Why is he in Iowa? Shouldn’t there be more information said about him in the news story? This isn’t his first arrest; this would be about his 27th or so. What’s going to happen to him? The Des Moines Register doesn’t say—they simply state that he is being held in jail on $66,000 bond (which I thought was high before I read his previous criminal history). Will there be a trial? Could he go to jail? What’s the deal? The story doesn’t tell me.
The story also doesn’t tell me much information about the cocaine that was found on him. It seems strange to me that a man kept it in his sock after the whole business of allegedly stealing a car, running from the police, and then hiding in a building. Why didn’t he throw it out so as not to receive another charge against him? I understand that it’s potential money but if he’s about to be arrested anyway, shouldn’t he have hidden it or something prior to being arrested? And how did the police find it anyway? Did Robison walk with a limp or something due to the crack cocaine, so they checked his feet? Which foot was it on? How much crack was stuffed in his sock and how big was it? What made the officers notice the cocaine? The news story doesn’t say anything about it.
I also want to know more about how he allegedly stole Taggart’s car. How did he steal it? Was the car locked or unlocked? Did Robinson break a window? Was a window rolled down? Did he somehow have the keys? The story doesn’t have an interview with Taggart or Robinson to straighten this out. Why did Robinson steal it in the first place? He is in Iowa from Minnesota, so I’m assuming he had some access to transportation. Did anybody ask Robinson why he took the car? Was it just something to do because he could easily get in the car, or did he just really want it for a disguise while selling drugs? We don’t know. Did he damage the car? The story says Taggart drove her car home from the scene of the crime, so it couldn’t have been too damaged. Was the car examined first or anything? Perhaps Robinson had cocaine in both socks and some fell out of his other sock and it’s in the car? I need more information.
I also did a trial court search on Iowa Courts Online for Taggart just to see if there was anything interesting; there were seven results for a Virginia Taggart that was born in October 1961—which fits the age provided by the news story. I could only read a little about the cases, some information for them wasn’t provided, but she did have a ticket for using a vehicle without registration. This doesn’t tell me too much about Taggart but it does tell me that this isn’t the first case involving her car.
Finally, I want to know more information about McMillian, the babysitter. In the news story it says that she was babysitting and “ran” out to police to tell them where Robinson was hiding. I want to know how old she is. In an attempt to find her age, I did another Iowa Courts Online search for Virginia McMillian. The birth year is 1961, so if this is the same McMillian, she is about 48. I want to know if she really “ran” outside, or was she slower, and more careful? And when she “ran” outside, did she take the child(ren) with her or did she leave the child(ren) in the apartment? Who was she babysitting anyway? Where they young children? Is she related to them? How many were there? Did she see Robinson or hear him? Did he know she saw him? Did he break into the apartment she was in? I want more specifics so that I can find out more about her.
One person that commented on this story online said that McMillian must be a hero if she took the kids out with her and saved them. Was she more heroic than the story leads readers to believe? Finally, I looked into her cases which totaled 36, though some were for her children who were juveniles at the time, but most were cases against her: prostitution in 1993, driving without a license or permit more than 6 times, an issue involving a rental property, 5th degree “criminal mischief,” a violation of financial liability coverage, and more that I didn’t read due to the length of her record. So, basically, I want to know who let her babysit the kids—Is McMillian fit, rather, to do so? She has a lot of issues with driving legally, obeying traffic signs and whatnot, so is she driving these kids around? I suppose not all these questions are needed since she isn’t the main person in this story, but her records do make me question her babysitting job.
Along with this, I find the headline—“Des Moines police: Babysitter flees as thief hides”—misleading. It says to me that either the babysitter is the main person in the story or that the babysitter seemed afraid and fled. It doesn’t say she ran out to tell the officers about Robinson’s whereabouts. A better headline is needed. Also, I’m not sure the photo of the African-American Robinson is necessary.
It seems to me that this story is a skeleton of what the real story should be. It has the backbones but nothing else. The extra information the Des Moines Register left out is necessary to fill the whole body of the story.
Who's Your Daddy?
Originally written 2/18/11
Dan McCarney’s daughter arrested for assault on police officer
The Iowa City Press-Citizen and the Cedar Rapids Gazette covered the arrest of a former Iowa State University football coach’s 21-year-old daughter in Iowa City on Saturday, February 14, 2009. Originally arrested for keeping a disorderly house, Jillian Kristina McCarney reportedly swore at, threatened, and tried to kick and strike the peace officer with her shoulder. She was then charged with assaulting a police officer as well.
McCarney reportedly repeated her status of Dan McCarney’s daughter, threatened that her father would take physical action on the officers, and told the officer that her charges would be dropped because as a McCarney she has “a lot of money.”
Both papers did give background information on Dan McCarney, but only the Gazette reported her release on the morning after her arrest. After reading the Press-Citizen I found myself asking many questions about the arrest—questions that were also left unanswered by the Gazette. I want to know more information about both Dan and Jillian McCarney.
Neither newspaper article addressed Jillian McCarney’s intoxication level and temperament, the number of responding officers, her relevance to the news, information about her, the reason behind her release from jail, and her friends’ and family’s responses.
Jillian McCarney reportedly boasted of her father’s status and said some rather bold things to the officers. I want to know if she was drunk at the time of her arrest, and if she was I want to know what her blood alcohol level was. Was she highly intoxicated or was she sober? Her words are even bolder if she was sober.
If I were the reporter for either newspaper, I would have asked the police officers what her state of mind was, if she was irate and disheveled or calm and orderly. Neither article actually gives her temperament. I assume she was angry and intoxicated, since she attempted to strike an officer with her shoulder and kick with her left leg. But I don’t know for sure.
I would have asked the officers how many officers responded to her disorderly house, which officers arrested her, and who called the police on the disorderly house. Was she throwing a party, were there other people there, does she have roommates?
I also want to know why her arrest was worthy of a news story. I understand from both newspapers that her father Dan grew up in Iowa City, played football here and was later an assistant coach, became the head football coach at ISU, and is now the University of Florida’s football defensive line coach and assistant head coach. But what relevance do his Iowa City connections have to her arrest?
I am from Texas and as such, I had no idea who Dan McCarney is. It was helpful that both articles included back matter on McCarney’s career; however, I failed to see Jillian’s importance in the news. Many young adults are arrested in Iowa City during the weekend and are listed in the police blotter.
If Dan McCarney had been arrested, that’s news. If Dan McCarney had commented on Jillian’s arrest using threatening and negative phrases against the officers, that is news. Aside from her father’s career, what makes Jillian’s arrest worthy of its own news story?
According to search results of the University of Iowa website, a Jillian McCarney is listed as running and placing in the 29th River Run at the age of 20. I would find out if she is active at the university or in the community, what her major is, if she has a job and where. I’d like to look up the towns she has lived in, and why she is a student at the UI. If she is very active in volunteering or somehow works to better the community, it is then newsworthy to report on her arrest.
I also would have checked the jail records to see why she was released, as reported by the Gazette. The Press-Citizen reported that assaulting an officer can land the person up to a year in prison as well as fined $1,500. I would have found out if she was fined and if she will be sent back to jail after a trial perhaps.
According to Iowa Courts Online, Jillian McCarney has four cases: her disorderly house, her assault on peace officers and others, a speeding ticket in 2006 for which she was found guilty, and one under the case name of another individual. No other information is stated in these records, but it does report that her assault’s sentence date is “null.”
Dan McCarney doesn’t appear to have any arrest records in Iowa Courts Online, but I’d like to know his stance on drinking and arrests on young people. Did he have a history of working with troubled youth while in Iowa City or elsewhere?
The Press-Citizen reports that they reached Jillian by phone, but she said she had no comment. I would try to contact her roommates if she has them and other people who were around during her arrest. Their information and observations could be important. I would definitely try to contact her parents to find out their reactions to Jillian’s arrest.
I want more information and a longer story. I understand the Gazette’s shorter story; their article was published the day after the arrest. However, the Press-Citizen’s story was published the Monday after; they had one more day to gather information, and they only had two more grafs—one about her grandfather and a sentence that said she had no comment.
Neither article reported enough. Both failed to go beyond brief information. Their inability to dig deeper and report those facts leaves me unsatisfied as a reader, as well as a journalist.
Dan McCarney’s daughter arrested for assault on police officer
The Iowa City Press-Citizen and the Cedar Rapids Gazette covered the arrest of a former Iowa State University football coach’s 21-year-old daughter in Iowa City on Saturday, February 14, 2009. Originally arrested for keeping a disorderly house, Jillian Kristina McCarney reportedly swore at, threatened, and tried to kick and strike the peace officer with her shoulder. She was then charged with assaulting a police officer as well.
McCarney reportedly repeated her status of Dan McCarney’s daughter, threatened that her father would take physical action on the officers, and told the officer that her charges would be dropped because as a McCarney she has “a lot of money.”
Both papers did give background information on Dan McCarney, but only the Gazette reported her release on the morning after her arrest. After reading the Press-Citizen I found myself asking many questions about the arrest—questions that were also left unanswered by the Gazette. I want to know more information about both Dan and Jillian McCarney.
Neither newspaper article addressed Jillian McCarney’s intoxication level and temperament, the number of responding officers, her relevance to the news, information about her, the reason behind her release from jail, and her friends’ and family’s responses.
Jillian McCarney reportedly boasted of her father’s status and said some rather bold things to the officers. I want to know if she was drunk at the time of her arrest, and if she was I want to know what her blood alcohol level was. Was she highly intoxicated or was she sober? Her words are even bolder if she was sober.
If I were the reporter for either newspaper, I would have asked the police officers what her state of mind was, if she was irate and disheveled or calm and orderly. Neither article actually gives her temperament. I assume she was angry and intoxicated, since she attempted to strike an officer with her shoulder and kick with her left leg. But I don’t know for sure.
I would have asked the officers how many officers responded to her disorderly house, which officers arrested her, and who called the police on the disorderly house. Was she throwing a party, were there other people there, does she have roommates?
I also want to know why her arrest was worthy of a news story. I understand from both newspapers that her father Dan grew up in Iowa City, played football here and was later an assistant coach, became the head football coach at ISU, and is now the University of Florida’s football defensive line coach and assistant head coach. But what relevance do his Iowa City connections have to her arrest?
I am from Texas and as such, I had no idea who Dan McCarney is. It was helpful that both articles included back matter on McCarney’s career; however, I failed to see Jillian’s importance in the news. Many young adults are arrested in Iowa City during the weekend and are listed in the police blotter.
If Dan McCarney had been arrested, that’s news. If Dan McCarney had commented on Jillian’s arrest using threatening and negative phrases against the officers, that is news. Aside from her father’s career, what makes Jillian’s arrest worthy of its own news story?
According to search results of the University of Iowa website, a Jillian McCarney is listed as running and placing in the 29th River Run at the age of 20. I would find out if she is active at the university or in the community, what her major is, if she has a job and where. I’d like to look up the towns she has lived in, and why she is a student at the UI. If she is very active in volunteering or somehow works to better the community, it is then newsworthy to report on her arrest.
I also would have checked the jail records to see why she was released, as reported by the Gazette. The Press-Citizen reported that assaulting an officer can land the person up to a year in prison as well as fined $1,500. I would have found out if she was fined and if she will be sent back to jail after a trial perhaps.
According to Iowa Courts Online, Jillian McCarney has four cases: her disorderly house, her assault on peace officers and others, a speeding ticket in 2006 for which she was found guilty, and one under the case name of another individual. No other information is stated in these records, but it does report that her assault’s sentence date is “null.”
Dan McCarney doesn’t appear to have any arrest records in Iowa Courts Online, but I’d like to know his stance on drinking and arrests on young people. Did he have a history of working with troubled youth while in Iowa City or elsewhere?
The Press-Citizen reports that they reached Jillian by phone, but she said she had no comment. I would try to contact her roommates if she has them and other people who were around during her arrest. Their information and observations could be important. I would definitely try to contact her parents to find out their reactions to Jillian’s arrest.
I want more information and a longer story. I understand the Gazette’s shorter story; their article was published the day after the arrest. However, the Press-Citizen’s story was published the Monday after; they had one more day to gather information, and they only had two more grafs—one about her grandfather and a sentence that said she had no comment.
Neither article reported enough. Both failed to go beyond brief information. Their inability to dig deeper and report those facts leaves me unsatisfied as a reader, as well as a journalist.
Before the Burial
Originally written 5/12/2009
How journalists uncover the truth when covering the murders of children: The Kehoe family incident
In late October 2008, a woman and her two young sons set out for an evening away from their home in Coralville, Iowa, to Sumner. Originally reported missing by the father Eugene, the family was found the next day after the injured woman went to a home and said that her sons “were in danger.” Later, the youngest son was found dead outside the family’s van, and the older boy was found severely injured inside it.
Michelle Kehoe, 35, her sons Seth, 2, and Sean, 7, were found near a pond by the Hook ‘N’ Liner Sportsman Club in Littleton, Iowa. Michelle and Sean were injured and taken to hospitals for surgery, but Seth was found dead at the scene.
The family’s van was undamaged and parked near the pond. At the time, the public did not know what happened to the family, how Seth died, or why the family was at the pond and not near Sumner.
The Tuesday after the incident, the Cedar Rapids Gazette published a story about it, and on Wednesday the Des Moines Register did too. Although the two papers reported most of the same information the closed-mouth officials said, the papers reported from different circumstances—sometimes using very different writing styles—and included extra information that the other did not report.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette published its first story about the incident on the Tuesday after. Orlan Love, the Northeast Iowa Bureau Chief for the paper, covered the incident after visiting the scene of the crime.
“Unknowns overshadow the known facts in an incident in which a 2-year-old Coralville boy was killed Sunday or early Monday near a remote pond southeast of this Buchanan County hamlet,” the lede said. The reporter Love framed his story with this in mind.
Love has worked 17 years as a journalist, 16 of them at the Gazette. He said he has covered many children’s deaths, including the recent winter deaths of four children in a fire in a rural Greenly farmhouse. Most of his child-death stories have involved automobile accidents, however.
He lives 32 miles north of Cedar Rapids and works from home. Love first heard about the Kehoe family incident from his editors. He said he believes his editors might have found out about it from police scanners. The editors told Love to “get up there to Littleton.”
Because Love handles the stories in Northeast Iowa and is closer to Littleton, he was sent to cover the story. Initially, Love didn’t know that anyone was killed, let alone a child.
He said he arrived to the scene of the crime at Hook ‘N’ Liner around noon on Monday, Oct. 27.
“[It] was so unseasonably cold that most of the reporters sat in their cars with the engines running while awaiting the press conference,” he said.
At least half a dozen news media organizations were waiting at the scene. Love said it was difficult to report the story because the police wouldn’t let reporters get to the actual crime scene. Everything was blocked off, and the area was secure.
“It was a hard story to cover because law enforcement had so thoroughly cordoned off the scene, blocking access to the neighbors who might have seen or heard something and, especially, to the neighbor whose home was visited by Mrs. Kehoe when she reported her version of the incident,” Love said.
Although the media grouped around the blockade to hear information from officials, Gazette reporter Love didn’t talk much to other reporters.
“[I figured] they have more to learn from me than I do from them,” he said.
During the middle of the afternoon, the press conference occurred. Michelle was not named a suspect. As the day wore on, and when the conference was over, Love’s curiosity sparked. Officials worded things carefully.
“The police said earlier that people were not in danger, kind of like they already knew who [committed the crime],” Love said, mentioning that that could have meant someone in the family, especially the mother, could have done it. “It was kind of like they knew the mom did it. That raised suspicions.”
How did Love feel about Michelle possibly killing one son and severely injuring the other?
“You try not to lean toward anything,” he said. “Certainly, the thought entered my mind.”
Love said that because there were questions in his mind, he chose to write his story to match that attitude: what was not known was actually more important than what was known.
Following his lede, the next graph started with “What’s known is that…,” and it was then followed by the much larger graph that began “What remains to be learned, at least by the public, is…” Even the headline begins with “Family tragedy a mystery…”
An interesting three graphs at the end of the story included information from Carol Trueg, the president of Regina Catholic Education School, who said Sean is a first grader at the Iowa City school. A statement from her said that they’re thankful Sean is alive, and their prayers go out to the whole family. She also said the school children weren’t aware of the incident yet, but that counselors will be available to children after they’re notified.
The Gazette reporter Love did not find this information himself.
Although not included with his story, Love said he had help from another Gazette reporter. Because the story was from a while ago, he can’t remember for sure which reporter helped him, but he said he thinks it was Gregg Hennigan.
According to Love, Hennigan “did the digging in Coralville,” and emailed information to him. Love said he is proud that the Gazette uses reporters in the Coralville/Iowa City area.
When asked about the case, Hennigan confirmed that he was the reporter that helped Love and gave Love the Trueg information. Hennigan has been a professional journalist for five years, and has been at the Gazette for three. He said he has covered a “decent” amount of deaths.
Hennigan said he can’t remember exactly how he figured out that Sean Kehoe went to that school, but he knew Carol Trueg and called her up.
Hennigan said Trueg was willing to talk.
“It was a difficult situation, of course, but from what I remember, she answered every question she could,” he said. “I wouldn’t say she was comfortable, given the situation. But who would be?”
Hennigan asked her the “most basic” questions first.
“Did they go there, age, grade, teachers, is there a photo, etc?” he said. “And then I work my way into the tougher questions—what were they like, did you know the parents, what have you told students happened, how are they taking it?” He said that Trueg actually asked him what he knew about the crime because she didn’t have a lot of information.
When covering these types of stories, Hennigan said he tries to be as sensitive as possible, while still trying to get as much information as possible. The same goes for when he interviews parents. He said he usually says that he is trying to give readers an understanding of who the person was besides this horrible event that just happened.
“And that’s the truth,” Hennigan said. “You have to remind yourself that these people have just been through a tragedy and balance that with trying to do your job.”
Love said that in covering children’s deaths, the Gazette tries to present a complete story without infringing unduly upon the grieving family.
“I always make an effort to speak with the parents, prefacing my call with an expression of sympathy and understanding if they don’t want to talk with me,” he said. “We also usually try to speak with other relatives, school officials, and classmates in an effort to find out something personal about the deceased.”
Love said he did not hold anything back when it came to reporting about the boy’s death. But “that was not a dilemma since so little was known.”
Erin Jordan from the Des Moines Register reported her story from her office in Iowa City. Published the day after Love’s story, she had results from Seth’s autopsy that was released Tuesday. “Boy, 2, died of stabbing injuries to his neck,” ran her story’s headline. The autopsy said he died of “sharp force injuries.”
She said she’s written several stories about children dying, “unfortunately.” These stories usually involve talking to a family member, if possible, to find out about the child’s personality, what he or she liked to do, she added.
“I’ve always wanted to make any person who has died seem more like a full person than just a statistic,” Jordan said. “You also want to talk with law enforcement about the person’s guardians to see whether they have criminal records.” She’s been a full-time newspaper reporter for 11 years and has been with the Register for nearly six, she said.
Jordan found out about the Kehoe incident from a report in another newspaper, maybe the Gazette, she said. “I believe we were following [that report].”
When she wrote her version of the incident, it took her about seven to eight hours to report and write.
Because her story came out the day after other newspapers, she had those stories to look at too.
“I think there was a pervious story, so I had some basic information,” she said.
According to Jordan, she called the sheriff in the county where the incident occurred as well as Iowa City police to talk about the incident in which Kehoe drove into the river. She did a number of phone interviews and looked at court records online. She tried to talk to the father, Eugene, but she doesn’t think he returned her call, she said.
“This story was some time ago and the details are a little fuzzy,” Jordan said.
She did not write, however, any information from anyone other than officials, though she previously said a reporter should try to talk to family members and other people to make the child more than a statistic.
“If I recall, I didn’t have time to contact other family members or neighbors,” she said. “I did a good deal of time that day trying to track down what happened in Northeast Iowa.”
Jordan said the Des Moines Register normally reports details of the deaths of children by “trying to talk with family members, neighbors, school principals, etc.”
“It all depends on the time and the circumstances of the case,” she said. “As you might imagine, it’s much more sensitive to talk with family in a case like this where another family member is accused of injuring a child.”
In the case of the Greenly fire that killed four children, Jordan said she talked with the kids’ grandmother and a neighbor who called 911.
The most interesting part of Jordan’s story about the Kehoe case, aside from the “sharp force injuries” to the dead child’s neck information, was in the twelfth graph. Jordan reported that Coralville police had one other call from the Kehoe house prior to the incident.
“That was on Jan. 20, when Coralville took a medical call about Seth getting ‘caught on a treadmill.’ The boy had cuts on his stomach, but was not taken to the hospital,” the graph said.
Jordan said it’s “just normal reporting protocol” to check for criminal records through Iowa Courts Online and to seek other police calls for service. She said she did not hope to find anything specific when she made these checks. She said she had asked Iowa City police whether there were any other incidents involving the Kehoe family or calls for service at their house. The treadmill report came from that request.
“I wasn’t sure what to think about the treadmill report. I have young kids and they often get minor injuries and treadmills are exciting for almost any child,” Jordan said. “On the other hand, I wanted to report it to the public and let them decide whether it was relevant.”
When it came time to write her story, Jordan said she tried to remain unbiased.
“It is definitely a sad case that left one child dead and tore apart a family,” she said.
How journalists uncover the truth when covering the murders of children: The Kehoe family incident
In late October 2008, a woman and her two young sons set out for an evening away from their home in Coralville, Iowa, to Sumner. Originally reported missing by the father Eugene, the family was found the next day after the injured woman went to a home and said that her sons “were in danger.” Later, the youngest son was found dead outside the family’s van, and the older boy was found severely injured inside it.
Michelle Kehoe, 35, her sons Seth, 2, and Sean, 7, were found near a pond by the Hook ‘N’ Liner Sportsman Club in Littleton, Iowa. Michelle and Sean were injured and taken to hospitals for surgery, but Seth was found dead at the scene.
The family’s van was undamaged and parked near the pond. At the time, the public did not know what happened to the family, how Seth died, or why the family was at the pond and not near Sumner.
The Tuesday after the incident, the Cedar Rapids Gazette published a story about it, and on Wednesday the Des Moines Register did too. Although the two papers reported most of the same information the closed-mouth officials said, the papers reported from different circumstances—sometimes using very different writing styles—and included extra information that the other did not report.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette published its first story about the incident on the Tuesday after. Orlan Love, the Northeast Iowa Bureau Chief for the paper, covered the incident after visiting the scene of the crime.
“Unknowns overshadow the known facts in an incident in which a 2-year-old Coralville boy was killed Sunday or early Monday near a remote pond southeast of this Buchanan County hamlet,” the lede said. The reporter Love framed his story with this in mind.
Love has worked 17 years as a journalist, 16 of them at the Gazette. He said he has covered many children’s deaths, including the recent winter deaths of four children in a fire in a rural Greenly farmhouse. Most of his child-death stories have involved automobile accidents, however.
He lives 32 miles north of Cedar Rapids and works from home. Love first heard about the Kehoe family incident from his editors. He said he believes his editors might have found out about it from police scanners. The editors told Love to “get up there to Littleton.”
Because Love handles the stories in Northeast Iowa and is closer to Littleton, he was sent to cover the story. Initially, Love didn’t know that anyone was killed, let alone a child.
He said he arrived to the scene of the crime at Hook ‘N’ Liner around noon on Monday, Oct. 27.
“[It] was so unseasonably cold that most of the reporters sat in their cars with the engines running while awaiting the press conference,” he said.
At least half a dozen news media organizations were waiting at the scene. Love said it was difficult to report the story because the police wouldn’t let reporters get to the actual crime scene. Everything was blocked off, and the area was secure.
“It was a hard story to cover because law enforcement had so thoroughly cordoned off the scene, blocking access to the neighbors who might have seen or heard something and, especially, to the neighbor whose home was visited by Mrs. Kehoe when she reported her version of the incident,” Love said.
Although the media grouped around the blockade to hear information from officials, Gazette reporter Love didn’t talk much to other reporters.
“[I figured] they have more to learn from me than I do from them,” he said.
During the middle of the afternoon, the press conference occurred. Michelle was not named a suspect. As the day wore on, and when the conference was over, Love’s curiosity sparked. Officials worded things carefully.
“The police said earlier that people were not in danger, kind of like they already knew who [committed the crime],” Love said, mentioning that that could have meant someone in the family, especially the mother, could have done it. “It was kind of like they knew the mom did it. That raised suspicions.”
How did Love feel about Michelle possibly killing one son and severely injuring the other?
“You try not to lean toward anything,” he said. “Certainly, the thought entered my mind.”
Love said that because there were questions in his mind, he chose to write his story to match that attitude: what was not known was actually more important than what was known.
Following his lede, the next graph started with “What’s known is that…,” and it was then followed by the much larger graph that began “What remains to be learned, at least by the public, is…” Even the headline begins with “Family tragedy a mystery…”
An interesting three graphs at the end of the story included information from Carol Trueg, the president of Regina Catholic Education School, who said Sean is a first grader at the Iowa City school. A statement from her said that they’re thankful Sean is alive, and their prayers go out to the whole family. She also said the school children weren’t aware of the incident yet, but that counselors will be available to children after they’re notified.
The Gazette reporter Love did not find this information himself.
Although not included with his story, Love said he had help from another Gazette reporter. Because the story was from a while ago, he can’t remember for sure which reporter helped him, but he said he thinks it was Gregg Hennigan.
According to Love, Hennigan “did the digging in Coralville,” and emailed information to him. Love said he is proud that the Gazette uses reporters in the Coralville/Iowa City area.
When asked about the case, Hennigan confirmed that he was the reporter that helped Love and gave Love the Trueg information. Hennigan has been a professional journalist for five years, and has been at the Gazette for three. He said he has covered a “decent” amount of deaths.
Hennigan said he can’t remember exactly how he figured out that Sean Kehoe went to that school, but he knew Carol Trueg and called her up.
Hennigan said Trueg was willing to talk.
“It was a difficult situation, of course, but from what I remember, she answered every question she could,” he said. “I wouldn’t say she was comfortable, given the situation. But who would be?”
Hennigan asked her the “most basic” questions first.
“Did they go there, age, grade, teachers, is there a photo, etc?” he said. “And then I work my way into the tougher questions—what were they like, did you know the parents, what have you told students happened, how are they taking it?” He said that Trueg actually asked him what he knew about the crime because she didn’t have a lot of information.
When covering these types of stories, Hennigan said he tries to be as sensitive as possible, while still trying to get as much information as possible. The same goes for when he interviews parents. He said he usually says that he is trying to give readers an understanding of who the person was besides this horrible event that just happened.
“And that’s the truth,” Hennigan said. “You have to remind yourself that these people have just been through a tragedy and balance that with trying to do your job.”
Love said that in covering children’s deaths, the Gazette tries to present a complete story without infringing unduly upon the grieving family.
“I always make an effort to speak with the parents, prefacing my call with an expression of sympathy and understanding if they don’t want to talk with me,” he said. “We also usually try to speak with other relatives, school officials, and classmates in an effort to find out something personal about the deceased.”
Love said he did not hold anything back when it came to reporting about the boy’s death. But “that was not a dilemma since so little was known.”
Erin Jordan from the Des Moines Register reported her story from her office in Iowa City. Published the day after Love’s story, she had results from Seth’s autopsy that was released Tuesday. “Boy, 2, died of stabbing injuries to his neck,” ran her story’s headline. The autopsy said he died of “sharp force injuries.”
She said she’s written several stories about children dying, “unfortunately.” These stories usually involve talking to a family member, if possible, to find out about the child’s personality, what he or she liked to do, she added.
“I’ve always wanted to make any person who has died seem more like a full person than just a statistic,” Jordan said. “You also want to talk with law enforcement about the person’s guardians to see whether they have criminal records.” She’s been a full-time newspaper reporter for 11 years and has been with the Register for nearly six, she said.
Jordan found out about the Kehoe incident from a report in another newspaper, maybe the Gazette, she said. “I believe we were following [that report].”
When she wrote her version of the incident, it took her about seven to eight hours to report and write.
Because her story came out the day after other newspapers, she had those stories to look at too.
“I think there was a pervious story, so I had some basic information,” she said.
According to Jordan, she called the sheriff in the county where the incident occurred as well as Iowa City police to talk about the incident in which Kehoe drove into the river. She did a number of phone interviews and looked at court records online. She tried to talk to the father, Eugene, but she doesn’t think he returned her call, she said.
“This story was some time ago and the details are a little fuzzy,” Jordan said.
She did not write, however, any information from anyone other than officials, though she previously said a reporter should try to talk to family members and other people to make the child more than a statistic.
“If I recall, I didn’t have time to contact other family members or neighbors,” she said. “I did a good deal of time that day trying to track down what happened in Northeast Iowa.”
Jordan said the Des Moines Register normally reports details of the deaths of children by “trying to talk with family members, neighbors, school principals, etc.”
“It all depends on the time and the circumstances of the case,” she said. “As you might imagine, it’s much more sensitive to talk with family in a case like this where another family member is accused of injuring a child.”
In the case of the Greenly fire that killed four children, Jordan said she talked with the kids’ grandmother and a neighbor who called 911.
The most interesting part of Jordan’s story about the Kehoe case, aside from the “sharp force injuries” to the dead child’s neck information, was in the twelfth graph. Jordan reported that Coralville police had one other call from the Kehoe house prior to the incident.
“That was on Jan. 20, when Coralville took a medical call about Seth getting ‘caught on a treadmill.’ The boy had cuts on his stomach, but was not taken to the hospital,” the graph said.
Jordan said it’s “just normal reporting protocol” to check for criminal records through Iowa Courts Online and to seek other police calls for service. She said she did not hope to find anything specific when she made these checks. She said she had asked Iowa City police whether there were any other incidents involving the Kehoe family or calls for service at their house. The treadmill report came from that request.
“I wasn’t sure what to think about the treadmill report. I have young kids and they often get minor injuries and treadmills are exciting for almost any child,” Jordan said. “On the other hand, I wanted to report it to the public and let them decide whether it was relevant.”
When it came time to write her story, Jordan said she tried to remain unbiased.
“It is definitely a sad case that left one child dead and tore apart a family,” she said.
Monday, May 3, 2010
The Post of Shame
This is the highly esteemed Dr. Hunter, showing how ashamed he is of the following errors from CNN.com. He is too appalled to even say, "Woof."
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May 3, 2010:
"West Valley police say Josh Powell is they only person they's looking at, but they are not calling him a suspect in his wife's disappearance. They say they have no physical evidence of foul play."
--From this article. No, this isn't a quote from a source in the story. CNN must not be doing "they's" editing as well as they ought to... CNN later fixed "they" error about three hours after the original post.
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May 18, 2010:
"Calling law enforcement accounts 'absurd,' a Michigan attorney sued police Tuesday in the death of 7-year-old girl killed during a raid in Detroit."
--From this article. The problem I have with this sentence is that there should be either an "a" or a "the" in front of 7-year-old. Something so simple really ate me up inside.
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June 1, 2010:
"Shortly after midnight on May 22, Kibuishi arrived at the Herr's home, where she was shot and killed by Wozniak, police said."
--From this article. Did Kibuishi arrive at Herr's home, or the home? Pick one, CNN.
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June 5, 2010:
"With his family by his side at his Colorado Springs home, Haggard is expected to a make 'surprise groundbreaking' announcement, according to a news statement Tuesday."
--From this article. Sounds like "a" trouble to me.
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June 10, 2010:
"Van der Sloot, who was twice arrested in connection with the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005."
--From this article. Van der Sloot was arrested. Duh.
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June 10, 2010:
"'This is one of the worst social networking sites that we've encountered.,' Cuomo said at a news conference in New York City."
...
"In a statement sent to CNN, Tagged General Counsel Louis Willacy the company was working 'closely and cooperatively' with Cuomo's office to come to a quick resolution 'in the best interest of our members' safety.'"
--Both from the same article. I can't believe there's a period in the first quote, and I'm giggling since CNN left out the "said" in the next graph.
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June 12, 1010:
"Anthony Alvarez, 36, had been holding authorities at bay since Tuesday." (Photo caption)
...
"Reporters on the scene said the operation began with a 'flash-bang' designed to disorient the suspect, identified as Anthony Alvarez, 26." (Supporting Graph)
--From this article. Someone didn't double check...
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March 25, 2010 (Found by Mallory on June 12)
"During the six hour standoff police tried all they could to get him out of his house. They first called him on a phone, then used a loudspeaker and finally brought in the tear gas. Still, he still wouldn't budge."
--From this article. Still, CNN still didn't double check.
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June 14, 2010:
"The only other inmate in the area is alleged Colombian hit man Hugo Trujillo Ospina. The two have spent some time together in a common area where there is a television set and weights made of out of broomsticks and soda bottles, authorities said."
--From this article. Just pick one: "made of broomsticks" or "made out of broomsticks." You can't have both, CNN.
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June 16, 2010:
"Police said after the initial shooting, Wolfe drove from to her grandparents' home in Hempstead, about four miles away, where she had an argument with her grandfather 'about insurance papers.' When Wolfe's 56-year-old uncle intervened, he was shot multiple times and killed, police said."
--From this article. Icky mistake.
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June 19, 2010:
"Slayton said he was shocked by the FBI visit because until then he didn't know about Jaycee was his daughter."
--From this article. Slayton didn't know about Jaycee, or Slayton didn't know Jaycee was his daughter.
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June 19, 2010:
"But Mississippi's courts have been slow to deliver justice for in the deaths of Bertha Tardy, the store's owner, and employees Carmen Rigby, Robert Golden and Derrick "Bobo" Stewart."
--From this article. The courts have been slow to deliver justice for the deaths, or in the deaths.
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June 21, 2010:
"Authorities have labeled the case a criminal investigation, On Friday, they released a flier seeking information on Kyron's stepmother."
--From this article. We just need a period, please, to end the first thought. Not a comma.
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June 21, 2010:
"Redding had a role in a 2005 independent film and had also taken courses at an area college. She also worked part-time at a tapas bar in Venice."
--From this article. I don't think we need the word "also" two times to understand that she had a lot of activities.
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June 21, 2010:
"Daves could not be reached for comment Monday. But in his affidavit, in addition to saying that Wright nearly caused a collision, Daves wrote that ' (the) defendant stopped in the ER entrance and jumped out and ran.'"
--From this article. No space before the beginning of the quote, please.
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June 22, 2010:
"A nutrition watchdog group is threatening to sue McDonald's if the fast-food giant won't stop using toys to to lure children to its Happy Meals ."
--From this CNNmoney.com article. Two errors! Sheesh!
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June 23, 2o1o:
"Meanwhile, a judge was expected decide on the legality of van der Sloot's incarceration Wednesday, his lawyer said."
--From this article. Expected to decide.
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June 24, 2010:
"'At this point, the police bureau does not consider this an ongoing investigation unless new evidence is received in the case, said Wednesday's police statement."
--From this article. There was only one quote mark. Was it legitimately a quote, or a paraphrase? Regardless, there needed to be proper quotations, if necessary.
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Hunter is not amused.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Whoa, Wait, What? Where's the News?
On April 13, 2010, the Iowa City Press-Citizen online posted an article entitled, "Robbery, home invasion reported." Obviously, the story was about recent robberies and home invasions in Iowa City. The problem with this article was that the story was not really news, or rather news in the form the Press-Citizen provided.
First of all, when I read the headline, I was confused. Isn't a robbery and a "home invasion" ultimately the same thing? Just to double check, I checked Dictionary.com. Basically, to sum it up, a "home invasion" occurs when a burglary takes place "while the residents are at home;" and a "robbery" usually involves violence of some form during the burglary. I understand the slight difference; however, the headline doesn't really give me a story. A home invasion and a robbery aren't particularly uncommon things in Iowa City. There really isn't an angle. Maybe a headline that took a more investigative approach would have been better. If this following statement is true, something along the lines of, "Police: Robberies highest in decade," or something that really gives readers more information than just "Robbery, home invasion reported." This is more of a statement than a news headline or story in itself. This would have been better suited to a little blurb on a police blogger.
When it comes to the actual story and information, the article was a bit dry. The information is interesting, but the reporter didn't seem to do any work to get it. The article reads like a police report because it just says what allegedly happened. The reporter did no crafting to this article--it read like word vomit. It was strictly informational and therefore heavy and boring. Even with a story about robberies, a reporter can still frame the story in an interesting way to keep readers reading. Reporters need to do their jobs so that readers can do theirs, i.e. reporters need to do some reporting, rather than vomit up information given to them.
Along with this, the article has no interviews or quotes, not even from officers. The story obviously came from a police report or something. If this information was given to me as a reporter, I'd have found it interesting--so interesting that I wouldn't just vomit up the information, I'd attempt to actually report on these incidents. Interview people, see if there's a real pattern, go deeper than the obvious. There is no real news value because no reporting was done by the "reporter."
Editorially speaking, I want to know why the races of the robbers were included. I could see it being important if officers are still looking for the suspects. But in all of the robbery examples, the reporter notes the suspects' races, but he does not elaborate on the alleged victims' races. There were also photos attached to this story. The last robbery example gave the alleged suspect's name, though the reporter declined to give his race. This is important because the previously mentioned suspects were described in detail.
All-in-all, this story was really disappointing. I wish the reporter had actually done some reporting before this article was published online.
First of all, when I read the headline, I was confused. Isn't a robbery and a "home invasion" ultimately the same thing? Just to double check, I checked Dictionary.com. Basically, to sum it up, a "home invasion" occurs when a burglary takes place "while the residents are at home;" and a "robbery" usually involves violence of some form during the burglary. I understand the slight difference; however, the headline doesn't really give me a story. A home invasion and a robbery aren't particularly uncommon things in Iowa City. There really isn't an angle. Maybe a headline that took a more investigative approach would have been better. If this following statement is true, something along the lines of, "Police: Robberies highest in decade," or something that really gives readers more information than just "Robbery, home invasion reported." This is more of a statement than a news headline or story in itself. This would have been better suited to a little blurb on a police blogger.
When it comes to the actual story and information, the article was a bit dry. The information is interesting, but the reporter didn't seem to do any work to get it. The article reads like a police report because it just says what allegedly happened. The reporter did no crafting to this article--it read like word vomit. It was strictly informational and therefore heavy and boring. Even with a story about robberies, a reporter can still frame the story in an interesting way to keep readers reading. Reporters need to do their jobs so that readers can do theirs, i.e. reporters need to do some reporting, rather than vomit up information given to them.
Along with this, the article has no interviews or quotes, not even from officers. The story obviously came from a police report or something. If this information was given to me as a reporter, I'd have found it interesting--so interesting that I wouldn't just vomit up the information, I'd attempt to actually report on these incidents. Interview people, see if there's a real pattern, go deeper than the obvious. There is no real news value because no reporting was done by the "reporter."
Editorially speaking, I want to know why the races of the robbers were included. I could see it being important if officers are still looking for the suspects. But in all of the robbery examples, the reporter notes the suspects' races, but he does not elaborate on the alleged victims' races. There were also photos attached to this story. The last robbery example gave the alleged suspect's name, though the reporter declined to give his race. This is important because the previously mentioned suspects were described in detail.
All-in-all, this story was really disappointing. I wish the reporter had actually done some reporting before this article was published online.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Please Permanently Prohibit Perpetually Preposterous Headlines
The focus of this short blog entry concerns publications that rely on alliteration as their form of creativity in their headlines. On April 6, 2010, an online publication called channel3000.com published an article about panhandling in Madison, Wis. I was not overly impressed with the story, perhaps due-in-part to the story's headline: "Peace Park Poses Panhandling Problem." I think the real problem wasn't the panhandling, it was how the p's were handled in the headline.
Along these lines, the Cedar Rapids Gazette posted an article online on April 5 that ironically also used the alliteration of p's. Entitled, "Man charged for prostitution, porn and pot," the short story focused on one man who showed nude photos to a 15-year-old male, attempted to trade money for sexual acts with the boy and also provided marijuana to him on several occasions. The problem with this story was the fact that the real focus of the story was scrambled by the headline. According to the article, the man was arrested for these things because the child was 15. The wording of the headline makes it seem that the man was charged for prostitution, porn and pot. Although this is true, the focus should have been on the fact that the man did these things to and for a child. This becomes lost by the writer's alliteration headline.
Both articles attempted to be quirky in their headlines by highlighting the harsh p sound. The problem therein lies. "Peace Park Poses Panhandling Problem" is too much alliteration for the headline because of the harsh p sound. A person probably couldn't say this headline aloud without laughing or pausing for breath somewhere. At least the man charged with "prostitution, porn and pot" headline flows nicely, or at least better than the other.
I have no problem with alliteration; I use it quite frequently. The problem I have with it, however, occurs when writers force alliteration. If a person uses it, it should flow and add to the story's overall effect. It shouldn't hinder the reader's comprehension of the story or the story's effectiveness.
So, in conclusion:
Dear "writers,"
Please permanently prohibit further use of preposterous problematic alliteration from your headlines. You make my ears bleed. On behalf of the people of my country... refrain!
Thank you,
Mallory Cole
Along these lines, the Cedar Rapids Gazette posted an article online on April 5 that ironically also used the alliteration of p's. Entitled, "Man charged for prostitution, porn and pot," the short story focused on one man who showed nude photos to a 15-year-old male, attempted to trade money for sexual acts with the boy and also provided marijuana to him on several occasions. The problem with this story was the fact that the real focus of the story was scrambled by the headline. According to the article, the man was arrested for these things because the child was 15. The wording of the headline makes it seem that the man was charged for prostitution, porn and pot. Although this is true, the focus should have been on the fact that the man did these things to and for a child. This becomes lost by the writer's alliteration headline.
Both articles attempted to be quirky in their headlines by highlighting the harsh p sound. The problem therein lies. "Peace Park Poses Panhandling Problem" is too much alliteration for the headline because of the harsh p sound. A person probably couldn't say this headline aloud without laughing or pausing for breath somewhere. At least the man charged with "prostitution, porn and pot" headline flows nicely, or at least better than the other.
I have no problem with alliteration; I use it quite frequently. The problem I have with it, however, occurs when writers force alliteration. If a person uses it, it should flow and add to the story's overall effect. It shouldn't hinder the reader's comprehension of the story or the story's effectiveness.
So, in conclusion:
Dear "writers,"
Please permanently prohibit further use of preposterous problematic alliteration from your headlines. You make my ears bleed. On behalf of the people of my country... refrain!
Thank you,
Mallory Cole
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Resurrecting Road-Kill, Take One
On March, 26, 2010, CNN.com posted a very short, comical story about a man who unsuccessfully attempted to revive a dead opossum in Pennsylvania. Apparently, the man was heavily intoxicated at the time. Donald J. Wolfe, 55, is to be charged with one count of public drunkenness.
The tone of CNN's article is meant to be humorous. Unfortunately, the humor was a bit dry. The tale is hilarious; the delivery...not so much.
The headline reads, "Police report attempt to revive flattened opossum." A person has to read this line several times before they understand the meaning, or at least that's what I had to do. I know the headline is meant to read that police reported this incident; however, with the words "police" and "report," I think of an official "police report." I was confused and thought the headline was mistyped. The headline writer should have been more clear. Also, considering the context of the story, the headline could have been more clever to ensure readers understood the hilarity of the situation immediately--something that lets readers know a drunk man made a fool of himself by trying to "save" some road-kill. That's what makes the story funny. Since CNN did not fully write to the hilarity of the situation, something such as "Man charged with public drunkenness after unsuccessfully attempting to revive a road-killed opossum," would have gotten the story across right away. Or to simplify: "Man charged after attempting roadkill resurrection."
The first graphs says, "A Pennsylvania man attempted to resuscitate 'a road-killed opossum,' state police say." A reader might imagine this to refer to a kind man who hit an animal and tried to save it! How nice!
But the next graph reads, "But this was one possum who wasn't playing possum -- the ugly creature remained dead." Obviously the creature was dead; where's the surprise? The first graph already called it ROAD-KILL. The writer's attempt to be humorous was short-lived. I understand the writer wanted to play off the old saying of "playing opossum," in which a being pretends to be dead in order to stay alive. Perhaps if this idea had been incorporated into the headline or the first graphs, the outcome would have been better.
Readers don't find out WHY the man attempted to revive the dead animal until the third graph. "Troopers responding to the scene in Oliver Township on Thursday determined that Donald J. Wolfe, 55, of Brookville, was drunk, according to the police report." Funny, right? Not exactly--the "drunk" part is buried in the sentence. The general rule-of-thumb is to write the 5 W's (who, what, where, when and why) in the first graph. And since the story is about a drunk man who tried to revive road-kill, the "why" is important. The "why" is the story.
The story, as customary with most CNN articles, includes a "STORY HIGHLIGHTS" section to the left of the story. The problem with this is that it gives the whole story. It contains the three sentences that sum up the story, which has only eight sentences itself.
One of the most intriguing questions concerning this tale is HOW the man tried to save this creature. The only thing that would complete the hilarious tone is that he tried to give the dead opossum mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. That would complete the story. Unfortunately for readers, the article does not say how the man attempted the revival of the animal. "It was not immediately clear how he endeavored to restore the possum's life," CNN says. Did CNN not ask anyone? Right before this sentence, CNN says that according to police, "Several witnesses observed Wolfe's failed resurrection of the flattened marsupial." People saw the man doing it, which is why police were alerted in the first place. Where's the reporting?
CNN also says that they were unable to reach the arresting officer or the man for comment. Reporters are taught to GO to people if they don't answer the phone. Come on, CNN, really?
CNN ended the story by saying the man will be charged with public drunkenness. This is important, I think. Maybe headline or first graph worthy. Even if CNN still chose to use this information to be in the last graph, they could have added something about the unfortunate opossum too. This would bring the story fully back to the funny part about the whole thing. "Wolfe will be charged with one charge of public drunkenness, police said. The opossum will be removed from the road." Something along those lines would have been a better ending to the story.
The tone of CNN's article is meant to be humorous. Unfortunately, the humor was a bit dry. The tale is hilarious; the delivery...not so much.
The headline reads, "Police report attempt to revive flattened opossum." A person has to read this line several times before they understand the meaning, or at least that's what I had to do. I know the headline is meant to read that police reported this incident; however, with the words "police" and "report," I think of an official "police report." I was confused and thought the headline was mistyped. The headline writer should have been more clear. Also, considering the context of the story, the headline could have been more clever to ensure readers understood the hilarity of the situation immediately--something that lets readers know a drunk man made a fool of himself by trying to "save" some road-kill. That's what makes the story funny. Since CNN did not fully write to the hilarity of the situation, something such as "Man charged with public drunkenness after unsuccessfully attempting to revive a road-killed opossum," would have gotten the story across right away. Or to simplify: "Man charged after attempting roadkill resurrection."
The first graphs says, "A Pennsylvania man attempted to resuscitate 'a road-killed opossum,' state police say." A reader might imagine this to refer to a kind man who hit an animal and tried to save it! How nice!
But the next graph reads, "But this was one possum who wasn't playing possum -- the ugly creature remained dead." Obviously the creature was dead; where's the surprise? The first graph already called it ROAD-KILL. The writer's attempt to be humorous was short-lived. I understand the writer wanted to play off the old saying of "playing opossum," in which a being pretends to be dead in order to stay alive. Perhaps if this idea had been incorporated into the headline or the first graphs, the outcome would have been better.
Readers don't find out WHY the man attempted to revive the dead animal until the third graph. "Troopers responding to the scene in Oliver Township on Thursday determined that Donald J. Wolfe, 55, of Brookville, was drunk, according to the police report." Funny, right? Not exactly--the "drunk" part is buried in the sentence. The general rule-of-thumb is to write the 5 W's (who, what, where, when and why) in the first graph. And since the story is about a drunk man who tried to revive road-kill, the "why" is important. The "why" is the story.
The story, as customary with most CNN articles, includes a "STORY HIGHLIGHTS" section to the left of the story. The problem with this is that it gives the whole story. It contains the three sentences that sum up the story, which has only eight sentences itself.
One of the most intriguing questions concerning this tale is HOW the man tried to save this creature. The only thing that would complete the hilarious tone is that he tried to give the dead opossum mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. That would complete the story. Unfortunately for readers, the article does not say how the man attempted the revival of the animal. "It was not immediately clear how he endeavored to restore the possum's life," CNN says. Did CNN not ask anyone? Right before this sentence, CNN says that according to police, "Several witnesses observed Wolfe's failed resurrection of the flattened marsupial." People saw the man doing it, which is why police were alerted in the first place. Where's the reporting?
CNN also says that they were unable to reach the arresting officer or the man for comment. Reporters are taught to GO to people if they don't answer the phone. Come on, CNN, really?
CNN ended the story by saying the man will be charged with public drunkenness. This is important, I think. Maybe headline or first graph worthy. Even if CNN still chose to use this information to be in the last graph, they could have added something about the unfortunate opossum too. This would bring the story fully back to the funny part about the whole thing. "Wolfe will be charged with one charge of public drunkenness, police said. The opossum will be removed from the road." Something along those lines would have been a better ending to the story.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
When the Watchdog Sleeps
On March 11, 2010, The Cedar Rapids Gazette posted an article about a man who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing a 4-year-old girl last summer. Daryl Bentley, 26, pleaded guilty. According to The Gazette, Bentley pleaded guilty to third-degree sexual abuse in a plea agreement, though he was originally charged with second-degree sexual abuse.
Watchdog journalism is down the toilet and needs to come back up. Reporters don't necessarily need to rake the muck, but they definitely need to let people know all the facts all the time.
The Gazette reported that Bentley sexually abused the little girl on June 17, 2009, while the girl was left in the care of Bentley's girlfriend. Bentley lived with his girlfriend, and when she left for a "brief time" that day, Bentley sexually abused the girl.
The article also reports that Bentley is related to two other pedophiles who are currently in jail: one with a life sentence, the other a 100-year federal prison sentence and another 25 years. Convicted child killer Roger Bentley kidnapped and murdered a 10-year-old girl in 2005, and Roger's brother James Bentley took pornographic photos of the girl and a 1-year-old girl in 2003. He also was convicted of sexually abusing the 10-year-old.
The information in this article is disturbing because of the crimes; however, the fact that information was absent from the story is also disturbing. I don't understand why no information was given about Daryl Bentley's girlfriend. Shouldn't she be held partially accountable for what happened to the little girl? The Gazette gives absolutely no information about her: no age, no name, no quotes, no reaction--nothing.
I also don't understand why the only quote in the article came from the assistant Linn County attorney. The article mentions that family members of the girl were "in favor" of the plea agreement to avoid "further harm" to the child. I want quotes from the family members. The article also says no victim impact statements were given at the sentencing and Bentley didn't speak. I think these facts are significant; I want a quote from Bentley's lawyer about why he didn't speak.
I want to know how Bentley acted during the sentencing--how did he react, respond, present himself. Even if The Gazette reporter wasn't there, the reporter could have asked people who were. The reporter simply reported the basic facts and did not dig deeper into the story.
The information about his pedophile relatives was a nice addition, and I think that information could have been used in the first or second graphs of the article, rather than the ending.
And P.S., with all of the Gazette's resources, could they not have used a better photograph? I mean, really? I didn't even want to put it on MY blog because it is so awful.
All-in-all, I think it's a sad story for many reasons. I think many people's actions led to the abuse of the little girl and more people should have been aware of the circumstances at the time. More people than Bentley should be held accountable to what happened to her.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Local Paper Copies, Doesn't Cover Conviction
On Tuesday, March 2, 2010, Mark Becker was convicted of killing small-town football coach Ed Thomas in June 2009. The jury announced its decision around 10:30 a.m. and the Iowa City Press-Citizen updated its Web site with the information in a story posted sometime that morning. The strange thing about this posting: it is not from the Press-Citizen; it is an Associated Press story.
This struck me as odd for several reasons. The case is a big deal, considering it's been covered by ESPN, The Huffington Post and CNN, along with other publications in the state of Iowa, of course. A person would think an Iowa City newspaper would have published something about it on their own, not relying instead on an AP story. Not writing it themselves is lazy. Even though the Press-Citizen isn't as close to Allison (where the trial was held) or Aplington/Parkersburg (where the shooting occurred) as other news organizations, it certainly is in the same state. Why wouldn't they cover it? Making a few phone calls to get the story is better than giving readers a story that some other publication wrote. The story was written well, obviously, since it's from the AP, but the Press-Citizen definitely should have written their own story covering the jury's decision and conviction.
Also, there were no photos to go along with the article. How does a publication not have a photo to go along with a big trial's results? That is lazy and lacking.
The Cedar-Rapids Gazette is merely 30 minutes or so north of Iowa City, and they not only covered and wrote about the trial themselves, they did all this. They trumped the Press-Citizen over about five times. The Gazette has "updates," multiple reaction videos and photos, as well as the conviction story on the same Web page. Creative coverage is always better than copied coverage.
This struck me as odd for several reasons. The case is a big deal, considering it's been covered by ESPN, The Huffington Post and CNN, along with other publications in the state of Iowa, of course. A person would think an Iowa City newspaper would have published something about it on their own, not relying instead on an AP story. Not writing it themselves is lazy. Even though the Press-Citizen isn't as close to Allison (where the trial was held) or Aplington/Parkersburg (where the shooting occurred) as other news organizations, it certainly is in the same state. Why wouldn't they cover it? Making a few phone calls to get the story is better than giving readers a story that some other publication wrote. The story was written well, obviously, since it's from the AP, but the Press-Citizen definitely should have written their own story covering the jury's decision and conviction.
Also, there were no photos to go along with the article. How does a publication not have a photo to go along with a big trial's results? That is lazy and lacking.
The Cedar-Rapids Gazette is merely 30 minutes or so north of Iowa City, and they not only covered and wrote about the trial themselves, they did all this. They trumped the Press-Citizen over about five times. The Gazette has "updates," multiple reaction videos and photos, as well as the conviction story on the same Web page. Creative coverage is always better than copied coverage.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
A Good Wife: Kills Husband, Still Files His Taxes
On Feb. 18, 2010, a Web site representing television news station KRQE published an article that recounted the story of the Albuquerque woman who killed her husband in 2002, buried his body, then filed for taxes in 2006 in his name. Ultimately, the story was written very poorly, and is the worst I have seen in a while for several reasons.
First of all, the headline is somewhat confusing. "DA: Ex killed husband and did his taxes," it says. I read this as being humorous. It seems to imply that she was so used to filing for their taxes as a family that she still did it for him even after he was dead. The headline made it seem like the authorities thought it was a funny, rather than a sober announcement.
Also, the story is written in a very confusing manner. The lead reads, "The woman who admitted to shooting her husband and then burying his body deep in the ground is now charged with filing his taxes and cashing in on the return." When I first read this, I had several questions: when did she actually kill him, when did she admit to killing him, was there a trial, shouldn't she be in jail, when was his body found, how did she have access to file for taxes if she's in jail? The rather ambiguous lead left so many unanswered questions. So, I figured I was originally too impatient with the story, so I continued to read in hopes of having my questions answered.
Surprise! They were not answered.
Okay, wait, what? The writing doesn't clear up any information. She admitted to killing him and burying him--cool, I understand that. But prosecutors say she needed him for money in 2006. Was this during her trial in 2006 that this was said? She needed his money in 2006? Or the prosecutors said this in 2006?
Now in the next graph the writer tries to get cutesy: "Synder's secrets have surfaced with him." Good try at alliteration, but the affect is lost because the message is unclear. Which "Snyder" had secrets? So the body was unearthed two weeks ago? Where? Who found it? How did they find it in the first place? And really, shouldn't she be in jail?
The story continues, talking about a trial and a grand jury, the woman's money problems, etc.
"Snyder's son admitted to police he wrapped his step-father’s body in plastic the morning of the murder and then helped his mother bury the body two days later," the story says toward the bottom. "He has cooperated with police, so at this time he is not being charged."
First of all, the headline is somewhat confusing. "DA: Ex killed husband and did his taxes," it says. I read this as being humorous. It seems to imply that she was so used to filing for their taxes as a family that she still did it for him even after he was dead. The headline made it seem like the authorities thought it was a funny, rather than a sober announcement.
Also, the story is written in a very confusing manner. The lead reads, "The woman who admitted to shooting her husband and then burying his body deep in the ground is now charged with filing his taxes and cashing in on the return." When I first read this, I had several questions: when did she actually kill him, when did she admit to killing him, was there a trial, shouldn't she be in jail, when was his body found, how did she have access to file for taxes if she's in jail? The rather ambiguous lead left so many unanswered questions. So, I figured I was originally too impatient with the story, so I continued to read in hopes of having my questions answered.
Surprise! They were not answered.
"Ellen Snyder admits she shot and buried her husband Michael in 2002," the second graph says. "In 2006, prosecutors said she needed him again for his money."
The third graph continues. "Since the body was unearthed two weeks ago at his former home in the northeast heights, Snyder's secrets have surfaced with him," it says.Okay, wait, what? The writing doesn't clear up any information. She admitted to killing him and burying him--cool, I understand that. But prosecutors say she needed him for money in 2006. Was this during her trial in 2006 that this was said? She needed his money in 2006? Or the prosecutors said this in 2006?
Now in the next graph the writer tries to get cutesy: "Synder's secrets have surfaced with him." Good try at alliteration, but the affect is lost because the message is unclear. Which "Snyder" had secrets? So the body was unearthed two weeks ago? Where? Who found it? How did they find it in the first place? And really, shouldn't she be in jail?
The story continues, talking about a trial and a grand jury, the woman's money problems, etc.
"Snyder's son admitted to police he wrapped his step-father’s body in plastic the morning of the murder and then helped his mother bury the body two days later," the story says toward the bottom. "He has cooperated with police, so at this time he is not being charged."
The story then ends by saying, "Snyder, 50, is still in jail on a $1 million bond."
Now, shouldn't this stuff have been placed more toward the top of the story? The fact that the woman's son helped to wrap up the dead man is pretty important information. The fact that he's not being charged is important. And the fact that the woman is in jail on a $1 million bond is crucial, I think.
Ultimately, what I have gotten from this story after thinking it over several times is that the woman killed her "abusive" husband and with the help of her son buried him somewhere in 2002. That was that and apparently no one cared or noticed or whatever. But somehow people knew he was dead. Then in 2006, she filed for taxes in his name, which is how people discovered she had killed him? I don't really know what's going on in this story.
The story does appear to come from a television news station in the Albuquerque area, which is where the crime was committed. There is an accompanying video, but I did not watch it. If there is a written story with a video, that story should be written well. Most likely, this story is well-known in the area and therefore the station had covered the case previously. The additional charges of tax fraud she faces now is the "news" this time. But, the station should have linked this story to the previous ones, so that outside readers could learn more. I found this story originally from CNN.com under their "U.S." tab. Because of this, I would think the Albuquerque television news station would provide outside readers with additional information if they're interested enough to click the CNN.com link. The news station should be more aware of this, for future reference.
Here is a Web video of a previous story about the woman from the same television news station:
If you are interested in reading more about this case, here is a much better and more detailed story, from a different news station. This was written before the other, and before the newer tax information. It does, however, fill in some of the gaps that other story lacked.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
A "Baby" Behind Bars: Robbery Turned to Murder
Recently, a 17-year-old male was charged with the murder of the 64-year-old Iowa City landlord whose death was in the news last fall because of the unanswered questions left behind. John Versypt was killed in early October and the case turned into an ongoing investigation. Local newspapers covered the murder throughout the past few months as new information was discovered. Almost four months later, someone has finally been charged with the murder, and two local publications (The Cedar Rapids Gazette and the Iowa City Press-Citizen) wrote about the young man arrested.
Interestingly, both articles describe the murder suspect in a way that highlights his young age in juxtaposition with the crime. The Gazette describes the suspect in the lead as a "17-year-old boy." Easily, the article could have read "A 17-year-old has been charged with first-degree murder...," omitting the "boy." The Gazette's decision to refer to him as a "boy" shows how they probably are highlighting his young age. The Press-Citizen, on the other hand, does not call him a boy directly. Instead, they include a quote from the landlord's widow near the lead at the top of the article, in which she calls the boy "a baby."
Both articles include either a photo (the Press-Citizen) or multiple photos (The Gazette) of the accused murderer. These photos make him look young, which, of course, he is. Not only do the lead paragraphs paint a picture of a young "baby" "boy," but so do the photos. Here are two photos that especially show a young, mischievous-looking man:
Press-Citizen
The Gazette
Aside from the representations of the suspect in both articles, on the whole, again, I think the Press-Citizen had the better article because it had more information about the case, including quotes from police and the murder victim's wife.
--Mallory
Interestingly, both articles describe the murder suspect in a way that highlights his young age in juxtaposition with the crime. The Gazette describes the suspect in the lead as a "17-year-old boy." Easily, the article could have read "A 17-year-old has been charged with first-degree murder...," omitting the "boy." The Gazette's decision to refer to him as a "boy" shows how they probably are highlighting his young age. The Press-Citizen, on the other hand, does not call him a boy directly. Instead, they include a quote from the landlord's widow near the lead at the top of the article, in which she calls the boy "a baby."
Both articles include either a photo (the Press-Citizen) or multiple photos (The Gazette) of the accused murderer. These photos make him look young, which, of course, he is. Not only do the lead paragraphs paint a picture of a young "baby" "boy," but so do the photos. Here are two photos that especially show a young, mischievous-looking man:
Press-Citizen
The Gazette
Aside from the representations of the suspect in both articles, on the whole, again, I think the Press-Citizen had the better article because it had more information about the case, including quotes from police and the murder victim's wife.
--Mallory
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
IC Counselor's Case in Court
The Cedar Rapids Gazette and the Iowa City Press-Citizen recently published a story about an accused Iowa City molester and his trial. As a quick recap of this case story, a former elementary school guidance counselor is accused of inappropriately touching a boy who was then 10 years old in 2004. According to both stories from The Gazette and the Press-Citizen, the boy was regularly visiting the guidance counselor because of his introverted personality. Specifically on two occasions, the boy said the counselor touched him and muffled his voice with a stuffed animal. The boy did not report the 2004 incidents until five years after they allegedly occurred. The counselor denies the accusations. The trial is underway and is expected to end this week.
Editorially speaking, I actually enjoyed the Press-Citizen’s story much better than The Gazette’s because it was more thorough and detailed. Both stories were an update concerning the trial, along with background information, but the Press-Citizen did a better job giving more background information that really completed the story. For example, both stories took a different approach in the lead: The Gazette said the case is in the hands of the jury, while the Press-Citizen referenced what the boy said at the trial concerning the 2004 incident. Ultimately, I liked the Press-Citizen’s version better because it actually taught me something. Obviously the case is in the hands of the jury, but since I did not attend the trial, it was nice to learn that at the trial, the boy said he "didn't know how to react" to the 2004 incidents at the time. But aside from the stories themselves, there was definitely something strange about the photos chosen by the publications to represent the trial.
Matthew Holst/Press-Citizen
Brian Ray/The Gazette
Mallory Cole/Edited Gazette Photo
A strange thing I found was basically the exact same photo on both Web site stories, with different photographers in the caption. The use of both newspapers to use a very similar photo is interesting for several reasons. It is very strange that both used the same photo. Comparing the two, they look almost exactly the same, perhaps edited to look different. The lighting is different, but that can be changed simply by editing the photo on the computer. The cropping is virtually the same as well. The focus in the photos are a bit different concerning the background's visibility.
It's a bit odd that out of all the photos that could have been taken by the photographers during the trial, both took this exact shot (supposing the photos are indeed shot by the two photographers from different newspapers). Why not use a file photo? Why not use a mug shot of the suspect? How ironic that both photos are almost the exact same photo? If the photos are different because they were indeed taken by different photographers, how strange is it that the photos were taken at the exact same time (which you can tell by looking at the body movement and facial expressions) and then used for both newspapers?
So, for fun, I edited my own version of The Gazette's photo to make it look more like the Press-Citizen's photo. I did it in a few minutes on my computer with regular photo editing software that usually comes standard. I couldn't make the photo look exactly like the Press-Citizen's, but the editing options are numerous if a person does try to claim another person's photo as their own by editing it.
Either there’s definitely something “fishy” going on there, or it’s a coincidence. What do y'all think?
UPDATE: The defendant was found guilty. His sentencing is scheduled for later.
--Mallory
Editorially speaking, I actually enjoyed the Press-Citizen’s story much better than The Gazette’s because it was more thorough and detailed. Both stories were an update concerning the trial, along with background information, but the Press-Citizen did a better job giving more background information that really completed the story. For example, both stories took a different approach in the lead: The Gazette said the case is in the hands of the jury, while the Press-Citizen referenced what the boy said at the trial concerning the 2004 incident. Ultimately, I liked the Press-Citizen’s version better because it actually taught me something. Obviously the case is in the hands of the jury, but since I did not attend the trial, it was nice to learn that at the trial, the boy said he "didn't know how to react" to the 2004 incidents at the time. But aside from the stories themselves, there was definitely something strange about the photos chosen by the publications to represent the trial.
Matthew Holst/Press-Citizen
Brian Ray/The Gazette
Mallory Cole/Edited Gazette Photo
A strange thing I found was basically the exact same photo on both Web site stories, with different photographers in the caption. The use of both newspapers to use a very similar photo is interesting for several reasons. It is very strange that both used the same photo. Comparing the two, they look almost exactly the same, perhaps edited to look different. The lighting is different, but that can be changed simply by editing the photo on the computer. The cropping is virtually the same as well. The focus in the photos are a bit different concerning the background's visibility.
It's a bit odd that out of all the photos that could have been taken by the photographers during the trial, both took this exact shot (supposing the photos are indeed shot by the two photographers from different newspapers). Why not use a file photo? Why not use a mug shot of the suspect? How ironic that both photos are almost the exact same photo? If the photos are different because they were indeed taken by different photographers, how strange is it that the photos were taken at the exact same time (which you can tell by looking at the body movement and facial expressions) and then used for both newspapers?
So, for fun, I edited my own version of The Gazette's photo to make it look more like the Press-Citizen's photo. I did it in a few minutes on my computer with regular photo editing software that usually comes standard. I couldn't make the photo look exactly like the Press-Citizen's, but the editing options are numerous if a person does try to claim another person's photo as their own by editing it.
Either there’s definitely something “fishy” going on there, or it’s a coincidence. What do y'all think?
UPDATE: The defendant was found guilty. His sentencing is scheduled for later.
--Mallory
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