Life is all about choices.
What will you have for breakfast tomorrow? How will you spend the weekend? When is it appropriate to walk out of class for a bathroom break?
In the newsroom, we’re faced with choices every week, as well.
What’s going on the front page? Which stories will print in color? Should we print the name of the individual arrested on campus?
Last week, we had to make a decision on all three aforementioned questions. And, quite honestly, I believe we acted properly when we printed the name of a man booked into the Lane County Jail in one of our front-page stories. The individual was arrested following a background check Public Safety ran on him when he was caught speeding on campus.
The man was pulled over on campus at 11:01 a.m. April 20 when he ran a stop sign on campus and continued to speed in a manner which, as a Public Safety officer put it, could have endangered pedestrians in the south parking lot.
Campus security rarely runs background checks on folks they cite. But when someone is hostile, Public Safety takes the added precaution of screening that individual. This was the case last Wednesday.
And it was this incident that led Public Safety to discover that the individual had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. The crime? He failed to register as a sex offender.
He was then booked into the Lane County Jail on this offense. All of this information was supplied to us by sources with Public Safety and the Lane County Sheriff’s office.
The story went to press on the front page of The Torch April 21. Over the next few days, we received phone calls, emails and visits regarding the article.
Some readers were angry because we printed the man’s name. Others shared disappointment with the judicial system and the campus’ failure to discover this information sooner.
I can speak to our coverage at the very least.
Just as he made the decision to disobey two laws last Wednesday, we, too, made the decision to print his name in the story that followed. To omit the reason for his arrest would have been an incomplete report.
Had this individual registered with the county, he wouldn’t be in jail. Had he obeyed the law within our parking lots, he’d also be a free man.
As a newspaper, we did nothing to harm anybody’s reputation last week. The man who sped through our parking lots did so himself when he chose not to obey laws that were put in place in order to protect students, staff, faculty and visitors to the college.
If the warrant had been issued for another crime, be it armed robbery, jay walking or anything else you might think of, I assure you it would have been in the story.
The methods we used to obtain this information were not of privilege to us, either. Anybody could have called Public Safety or the Lane County Sheriff’s office to access the information we received last week.
Everything we printed was delivered to us directly by officials at both offices derived from their reports. I’ll be the first to agree that the situation is unpleasant, but the truth often is.
The report that appeared in last week’s Torch was accurate and as complete as possible given the circumstances under which our reporter and news editor worked. I stand by them and the work they did. And, when it comes down to it, the decision to print the name rested solely with me and nobody else on staff.
It’s never pleasant to report these types of stories, but it comes with the territory. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to report on budget deficits and arrests, but our reporters, photographers and editors are here to do a job. And I can honestly say I’m proud of the work they do.
Editor Eder Campuzano can be reached at 541-463-5655 or torcheditor@lanecc.edu.
