As we noted in our editorial last week, the last month has been a rough one on the back roads of East Linn County.
We’ve had two major accidents that left people dead and that has resulted in some critical feedback here in the newsroom at The New Era.
In both cases – the pickup rollover on June 25 that left two people dead and the ATV accident on July 20 that killed a young rider – we’ve run photos of the accident scenes.
In both cases, we got angry phone calls from friends of the victims’ families and, in one case, from a family member of the victim, outraged that we published the photos.
I understand why some readers are not happy to see photos of accident scenes. It is a tragedy when someone is killed while having fun in the outdoors, and that friends and family members are extremely upset, if not angry, is no surprise.
But these dreadful accidents are also news. They both happened in the public arena and required responses from rescue personnel whose salaries are paid by all of us who live here in the Sweet Home area. Also, the fact that these accidents resulted in, tragically, fatalities makes them even more newsworthy.
News is news because it is something that doesn’t happen every day. When you buy this newspaper, you do not expect to read that the grass is green, the sky is blue and the river is wet. You’re reading it to learn things you don’t know, to inform yourself. The more unusual something is, the higher it generally rates on the newsworthy scale. Unfortunately, unpleasant events sometimes end up high on that scale.
We never put a photo in the newspaper simply because it will grab people’s attention. That’s sensationalism. You can find that in the supermarket tabloids – or some TV “news” programs.
We do, however, occasionally publish photos that we believe have legitimate news value but may upset people. If someone is already heartbroken over the death of a loved one, they may not appreciate being reminded afresh of the sad realities when they see a photo of an accident site.
However, publishing such photos can accomplish positive ends. They can help people understand what happened and cut down on false rumors, which generally run rife after tragedies. They can also serve as a reminder to all of us of how care is needed on the road and in the wild.
We try to balance the need to report the news with the need to be as compassionate as possible to the victims, which, I believe, is a legitimate part of my job as a local community journalist.
We actually spend quite a bit of time, as do many journalists, in deciding whether or not to use a photo after a tragic accident. As do most newspapers, we avoid publishing photos that clearly show dead bodies. Sometimes the photo you see in the newspaper is not the best one we have in terms of photo quality or storytelling potential. In one of the recent cases, we had an exceptional photo that told the sad story all too well but was so powerful that I decided it was just too much. It would have been too hard on those involved – the victims’ families, likely the rescue workers, to have to see that in the paper. So we ran another.
We have a job to do and we’ll do that job – telling you what is going on in the Sweet Home community. But I hope we’re not the cold-blooded, shifty, cynics that many people seem to consider journalists to be. We don’t sit around and cackle about how many papers we are going to sell if we put a certain photo in. In fact, selling papers is not part of the journalistic equation when we try to determine how to present the news of a tragic event.
We hate running stories like the two I’ve been talking about. It’s a bummer to have to write about and publish photos of accident scenes where a child and a young man were killed and where another young man, who recently had moved into the area and had quickly made many friends, died.
But it’s our job to tell you what’s happening in the community and we’ll continue to do so as best we can.
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On an entirely different note, I’ve learned quite a bit about Sweet Home since I arrived about 2 ½ years ago, but I know I’ve barely scratched the surface.
I was reminded of this as I cobbled together the story on the history of the Oregon Jamboree that you can see on page 1. Fifteen years seemed like a good point in time to think back to the festival’s beginnings, so I called some veteran volunteers and talked to some of the Sweet Home Economic Development Group officials who put on the event to pick their brains a little.
It’s clear that the Jamboree has come along a rather tortuous road to get where it is today, and that’s what makes it so amazing. Folks were skeptical at the beginning but Marge Geil, the one who came up with the idea, pressed on and suddenly things started happening. I admire that. Geil is no longer with us, but her legacy certainly is – in a sellout last year and a pretty full house this time around, I’m told, despite some difficulties with artists dropping out and the rising costs of putting on the show patrons have grown used to.
But, as one Jamboree official noted, it’s not just about the artists. People come here to listen to great country music, sure, but they also come to camp out in a down-home atmosphere with the friends they’ve made over the years, and just to enjoy themselves.
I don’t know if Marge ever envisioned what’s happening now, but it’s something Sweet Home citizens need to value highly and give due attention to keeping the Jamboree going strong.