Committing journalism
As you might expect, the Hillsboro Star-Journal, and myself as the editor, have been lambasted this past week for printing on the front page "sensational stories" about the recent criminal activity and coaching change at Tabor College.
But we also had a number of people thank us for the time and energy we spent to find out what the lights, sirens, and general hubbub was about.
Still, there were lots of accusations thrown our way.
One called the Hillsboro Star-Journal the worst newspaper in the state of Kansas. If that's true, then the only way for us to go is up. That's all we can do.
Another accused us of trying to sell more newspapers.
Fact is, we did take 100 more copies to the convenience store next to the campus after the manager asked for them.
Other than that, it was business as usual. Besides, the editor of this newspaper is not on commission, nor does he get a bonus if he sells more papers.
Somebody in the higher echelon of Hoch Publishing might have reaped some benefit, but as an employee, the Star-Journal editor is paid the same no matter how many papers are sold.
We also were accused of being too new to Hillsboro to write anything negative about Tabor College. To that we reply, "Horse feathers!"
We confess that over the past two weeks, we have been guilty — of committing journalism.
From the moment this past Tuesday when we first learned about the police standoff we have been determined to report as much as we can about what was going on.
And in doing so, one story led to another, and yet another.
In reporting the dorm incident, a local police official said during an interview that the four students involved weren't the same Tabor students involved in the recent armed burglary attempt in Newton.
What students? We called the Newton Police Department, the Harvey County attorney's office, and other government officials before we were done.
Once we got the names of the alleged felons, we crosschecked their names with the football roster. One of the accused was listed on the roster.
The other accused was one of the greatest running backs in school history, an NAIA All-American, who used up his eligibility to play football after the 2005 season.
During an interview with the sports editor of a Texas newspaper that covered the player on the Tabor roster in high school, the editor mentioned that Tabor Coach Robert Rubel had been to Texas, interviewing for another head coaching job.
Since we hadn't been able to reach the coach regarding the incidents, and phone messages to the athletic director hadn't been returned, we called the Tabor public relations office to speak with Sara Cook, the public relations director.
She had taken the day off.
So we called Cook at home to ask her who else might be able to comment on the police-related stories, and also the whereabouts of the coach.
Cook was not at all perturbed about being called at home.
Yes, she said, there was going to be an announcement about changes in the football program. She told me to contact Dr. Lawrence Ressler, who has oversight of the athletic department. She even gave me his extension.
I dialed Ressler, who seemed to be expecting my call.
He told me that the college had decided not to renew the coach's contract. Tabor made its announcement in a press release on Wednesday, the same day that we published the news in this paper.
Afterward, I e-mailed all of the sources I'd interviewed, asking if there were any corrections to be made. One of them responded candidly,
"The frustration I have heard is not that the facts were incorrect as much as the sensationalized manner in which the stories were cast and the inference that the coaches were somehow responsible for the behavioral situations.
"With nearly 500 students on campus, there are always some issues going on. The presentation made it seem that everything is out of control. This is not the case.
"The negative front page headlines may have caught attention but is not representative of what is going on. Our work of trying to grow the campus was made more difficult because of the manner in which these stories were cast.
"I am not sure how you can balance or undo the negative impact of the headlines and stories. It is hard to imagine how the paper will find the same sensational way to present the good that is going on. Anything you can do will be appreciated."
To which I replied,
"The definition of news includes the variance between the event and the expected norm. Thus, when an event so un-Taborlike happens, it is news.
"I am not going to promise you that Tabor fixing its problems is equally as 'sensational' as the events themselves, but be careful about making assumptions about our future intentions.
"If I had put these stories on the back page, there would have been lots of people who would have accused us of catering to the college.
"The tone was different than normal, because these were abnormal events.
"I won't argue the semantics of the word 'sensational', but the word carries a pejorative connotation in our business having to do with exaggerations or disregard for the facts, or skewing a source's comments to suit their own agenda.
"I don't have an agenda on these stories. You, of course, have an agenda, which is to protect your institution from disrepute.
"In the scheme of things, that's not my job. My job is to make sure that no facts are withheld and that all parties get fair treatment, so they feel they were represented accurately."
So, here we are, a week later.
Arrests have been made.
Stolen property recovered.
Front page news, again.
But also on the front page is the first installment of a two-part interview, and a written statement from the college president regarding these matters and other issues.
In retrospect, if we had an opportunity to put last week's paper together again, we probably wouldn't have used such a big, bold headline.
I would have added the word "Un-Taborlike" to make the news value of the stories more clear. In the story about coach Rubel, I would have had more accurate information about the date he was notified (Nov. 30) that he was through.
But if we had a chance to do it over again, all of the stories would have been positioned exactly the same — because the events were so "Un-Taborlike" it was front-page news.
As we move forward
We will continue to do all that we can, with the limited resources we have, to be caught committing journalism as often as possible, in service to our readers, and the betterment of our community.
— GRANT OVERSTAKE
