| Chapter
5
Covering
Crime and Its Victims: Story Ideas
By Suzette
Hackney
Anniversary Stories
Those who cover crime and its victims will undoubtedly be asked
to report anniversary stories that update readers and viewers
about victims in noteworthy cases. Some obvious examples include
the one-year anniversaries of the 1995 Oklahoma City federal
building bombing, the 1999 Columbine school shootings, and the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Not all editors assign anniversary stories, but many feel obligated
to do them. It's the job of the reporter to find a way to tell
a fresh story – one that will not harm the victim, yet will
allow the victim, and the larger community, an opportunity to heal.
The
challenge is to tell a coherent story, a story of healing and recovery,
says Bonnie Bucqueroux, director of the Victims and the
Media Program at Michigan State University. "Readers and viewers
want to know how the survivors are coping, emotionally, physically,
financially, even spiritually. Let other articles deal with the
causes, the politics, the failures and the underlying causes," she
wrote in a newsletter to reporters and students. "The purpose
of the anniversary story is to acknowledge past pain and loss,
while answering the fundamental question: how are they - the victims
and the community – doing now?"
Journalists should notify people who might be affected by an anniversary
story but who have not been interviewed for it. The last thing
a victim needs is to relive a traumatizing experience by picking
up the paper or seeing a story on the television news with no warning.
Some examples of anniversary stories:
Narrative Journalism
Narrative journalism can be a powerful tool, but it must be done
well to be effective.
Tom French, a 1998 Pulitzer Prize winner and St. Petersburg Times reporter, visited the Detroit Free
Press in 2002 and offered reporters
this advice:
"There is a very powerful engine in virtually every story
we write, and that is: what happens next. It is an extraordinary
question and it is what all narrative runs on. I really believe
one of our most basic needs is to find out what happens next.
"If we know the answers to all of these questions, I
really think that on most mornings we would not get out of bed.
Not because
the answers are bad necessarily, but because we already know. Curiosity
and not knowing are very powerful tools. We need to know. We need
to know the ending. That engine is powerful in narrative."
Narrative tips:
- Try to write in the present, capturing the moment.
- Read as many masters of the craft of narrative writing as possible.
Some suggestions: Jon Franklin, Rick Bragg, Tom French, Anne Hull
and Tom Hallman.
- Experiment with writing. Try disregarding the inverted pyramid.
Use shorter quotes or intersperse them throughout the story.
- Spend time figuring out what a story is about.
- Create an outline before writing the longer narrative.
- Think like a storyteller.
Examples of well-done narratives:
Examples of Other Stories Involving Victims
"Justice Undone: Cases crumble, killers go free"
http://www.sunspot.net/news/printedition/bal-te.murder29sep29,0,2359588.story
The (Baltimore) Sun, 09/29/02 - 10/01/02
An 18-month investigation by The Sun found that so many homicide
cases are now lost in court that the odds of getting away with
murder in Baltimore are stacked decisively in favor of the killer.
In this three-part series, The Sun examined 1,449 murders between
1997 and the end of 2001. In 68 percent of these murder cases,
they found no one was ever arrested, or the people who were arrested
either went free or were sent to jail for short periods of time
on lesser charges.
http://www.freep.com/news/locway/girl16_2003116.htm
The story of a 14-year old girl who was abducted, raped and forced
to strip and dance for money.
"Good photo, but readers didn't see it"
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/columnists/mike_needs/4486581.htm
The (Akron) Beacon-Journal, 11/10/02
A column explaining why newspaper editors
decided against running a breaking-news photo that showed a different
kind of victim.
"Censorship is still anathema"
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2002/Sep-01-Sun-2002/opinion/19534042.html
The (Las Vegas) Review-Journal, 09/01/02
A on the fact that naming rape
victims still doesn't occur often , but the tide is turning.
In the sidebars for the ethics chapter in this guide you can read
a column by Michael Kelly of the Omaha World-Herald on the question
of newspaper coverage of his daughter's rape.
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