In the heat of competition, mistakes are made and it appears that is what happened to KODE and KSNF Monday when they aired a report saying that a Webb City police officer was being investigated for child abuse. That report was even cited positively in this blog. I wrote "KODE continued its winning streak with a report on a child abuse investigation centered on a Webb City police officer, also covered on KSNF, while KSNF picked up Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmonson's filing of a lawsuit against Tyson and other poultry companies." I was wrong in praising the Webb City story. The two stations jumped the gun on this one.
They had to retract the story, noting that Jasper County Prosecuting Attorney Dean Dankelson was not going to file any charges.
The question now is: Should the story have run in the first place? Once the name of the officer was broadcast, his reputation was damaged, no doubt about it. When the stations report later that no charges are going to be brought, that doesn't do much to mitigate the harm. First, not everyone who watched the first report saw the second one. Second, there will always be people who think he did it.
A Webb City police officer has been labeled a child abuser now, even though there have never been any charges filed against him.
In hindsight, it is easy to see the two stations should have waited until charges were filed before reporting the story. Perhaps they could have noted that an investigation was being conducted into the possibility that a Webb City police officer abused his child, without naming the officer. Of course, that would have put every Webb City police officer with children under suspicion.
I would hope that the news director for the two stations used this opportunity to review guidelines over when a story should run. If a similar situation arises in the future, the stations should either wait until charges are filed or make absolutely sure they have the story pinned down.
This story should never have run.
2 comments:
Randy,
I hear your point about the story, but let's not forget..3 agencies confirmed Morris was a suspect, the child did have bruises and abrasions, and was taken to the children's center. And, Morris was listed as a suspect. So, yes, I know what you are saying about how his reputation is damaged..but we have had two children die in 2 weeks. The news stations are not in a position to ignore the situation, police officer or not. If this was an average Joe, it would not have mattered to you or anyone else if the stations would have aired the name. They did not retract their story, but gave their viewers the information that Morris was cleared. Somehow that child got the bruises and abrasions. This was not the case of a child accidentally falling down, according to the sources.
"If this was an average Joe, it would not have mattered to you or anyone else if the stations would have aired the name." - If this was an average Joe the story probably wouldn't have aired at all, due to the lack of information about the alleged incident. The only thing the news report identified was that a police officer was the suspect. Come on, do you know how many reports are made every single day about child abuse? If every single story aired, that's all the news the stations would have time to air.
Post a Comment