Ask the Editor
A reader is interested in understanding the Advance's policy on covering crime.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Email Martin
Question: What is the Advance’s approach to covering crime? I’ve noticed that some cases get news attention, while others are never mentioned.
Answer: When people think about news organizations covering crime, they tend to think about doing that in two broad ways — specific, high-profile incidents, and police blotters.
As a matter of editorial discretion, the Fredericksburg Advance typically only covers high-profile crime when it presents an imminent threat to the community. Such was the case last week in the case of a shooting near the Olde Greenwich Circle area. At the time we reported on that event, the shooters were still on the loose, two schools in Fredericksburg were on lockdown, and it was important the community understand the situation.
We will also often report on crimes that occur in schools, as we contend it is in the public’s interest to be aware of these situations. Such was the case last week as well when a third-grader brought a gun to school and discharged it accidentally in the classroom.
In this sense, we understand there is an interest in crime that goes beyond the curious to being in the public interest.
As for the second type of crime reporting — republishing police blotters — the Advance recognizes that these documents serve their purpose for law enforcement, but when presented uncritically to the public, they create the implication of guilt in the court of public opinion before the accused can defend themselves in a court of law.
The good old fashioned police blotter is truly intended to be little more than notes jotted down. As any good shoe-leather police officer will tell you, worth about as much at first glance.
Yet for many publications (and for a handful of readers) the police blotter is a fantastic means of reveling in the ill-fortune of others, all of whom are still people entitled to their day in court.
In short, the police blotter tells only one side of the story. This is not to suggest that the police are intentionally twisting the story to their end; it is to say that any story told from only one perspective can omit information that others would deem important. An arrest is merely the beginning of the criminal justice process, and as an editorial team, we believe (and in fact, know) it is important to follow that process through in the vast majority of cases before reporting on it.
That we are flexible enough to inform yet rigid enough not to succumb to the vulgar and mundane is no sign of hypocrisy, but rather a candid humanity which argues that each and every person is entitled to fair treatment in a court of law, not being tried first by the court of public opinion.
Now exceptions are rare, yet we recognize that exceptions only exist within the presence of a rule. For example, in our reporting on the Olde Greenwich Circle shooting, our first report consisted of the police report and we designated our piece as such precisely because the individuals were still at-large and the danger to the community was deemed important enough to get the information out swiftly. Paraphrasing Winston Churchill, we have no obligation to be neutral in a contest between the fire and the fire brigade.
Again, two years ago we wrote about a police cruiser that collided head-on with a driver who crossed the center lane. The police report included a camera inside the cruiser that caught the scene. We published the story and the video because it demonstrated for anyone driving how quickly this type of accident can occur at a time when there was a push to enhance public safety behind the wheel.
Yet to allow one or two exceptions to become the rule surrenders readers to a sort of voyeurism which only coarsens the public discourse. In short, it is a disservice to you.
We have a handful of sayings at the Fredericksburg Advance, one of which is that we put people before politics. High-profile crimes have their place, but only within certain parameters. Police blotters have their place. Just not in the pages of the Fredericksburg Advance.
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It's refreshing to see a news outlet take a thoughtful approach to crime reporting. Balancing public interest with responsible journalism is key, especially when it comes to sensitive situations like school incidents. Keeping the community informed while avoiding sensationalism shows real integrity.