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Tragedy put 10-year-old in the news; why it matters now

Rigo Gonzalez went through two major traumas as a child.

In August 1994, a neighborhood kid, 14, and his brother took their parents' van for a joy ride, and crashed into a tree. The younger brother, 11, was killed.

Rigo, then 10, was too shaken up about his friend's death to talk to the two reporters who showed up later. But he recalls the Daily Herald reporter stuck around, put his notebook away, and asked the youngsters how they were coping, expressed his condolences - something the other reporter didn't do.

"Both journalists basically went and did their jobs," Rigo says from the University of Arizona, where he's working on a master's degree, "but the juxtaposition between how they each interacted with us and how one was willing to take the time to ask us how we were doing really resonated with me that day."

Less than two years later, Rigo was awakened by his mother; their Carpentersville house was on fire. The family got out safely, but the damage was extensive.

Again, a Herald reporter appeared to interview the family. "I answered her questions the best I could," Rigo says. "I remember feeling scared and confused, thinking we were now homeless."

He told her he felt bad for her brother, who lost a new stereo in the fire. "Somehow, in my 12 year-old mind, I felt like that was the most depressing aspect of this all. I remember that little anecdote actually made it in the piece."

The reporter then provided Rigo with a list of resources for the displaced family. "The gesture meant a lot," he says. "She expressed her hope that everything would turn out OK for us, and thanked us for our time."

The tragedies, of course, stayed with him, but so did how humanely he was treated by our reporters. "This may sound silly," Rigo adds, "but I went on to become one of the editors of my high school newspaper at Dundee-Crown, and I'd like to think I was inspired by those interactions."

Now, how did these decades-old events come to light?

Last week, I wrote about a newsroom visit by Rukmini Callimachi, a highly regarded New York Times reporter who covers terrorism, much of it by relentless pursuit of contacts via social media. But she launched her career as an intern and Streamwood reporter at the Daily Herald. She had given a talk about her work at Benedictine University in Lisle, and later stopped by our office to renew acquaintances and reconnect with her first editor, Renee Trappe. As is her wont, Rukmini put out 30 tweets from her visit.

They were seen by Rigo, a news junkie who follows Rukmini closely.

"When she went on one of her patented Twitter threads to praise the paper that gave her start, I knew I had to reach out to her and tell her about my interactions with them," he said. "Having seen or watched several interviews of Callimachi, and seeing how humble she is and how she carries herself, I can't help but think part of that is a result of where she got her start."

Sure, I pass along this story because I want to brag about a couple reporters who did us proud a long time ago. But there really is a much more important lesson here: What goes around comes around. In a good way.

The news business is going through a rough time. Economics aside, we have a huge credibility problem. (Just a few days ago, I met an elected official who was unhappy with a story. He immediately dropped the f-bomb: "Fake news.")

So, yes, we can be careful with our stories and headlines, that we've been fair, balanced, that our writing is free of opinion and bias. But at the end of the day, much of what we do boils down to making strong personal contacts with the people we encounter, sometimes under awful circumstances. In short, we build credibility just by being decent and caring humans.

This wasn't lost on Rigo.

"We're in a period right now where much of the public finds the media distrustful, but it's important journalists and editors such as yourself know that there are many people like myself that still value high-quality journalism," he says. "I consume as much news as I can, and am proud to support good journalism now more than ever. Local journalism is also extremely important. So please pass along my thanks to all your colleagues if you can."

I did.

jdavis@dailyherald.com

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