Opinion

Crime story wasn't good journalism

Posted January 04, 2008 10:00 pm

I believe the Daily Herald has failed to adhere to journalistic ethics and present a fair and balanced story with "Crime and punishment" in the Dec. 27 edition.

Nearly every person mentioned in the story is a criminal or someone charged with a crime. In a couple of cases, however, the person named in bold print is a victim. Because of the length of the story --two pages -- and the fact that just a couple entries headline victims, this gives readers the idea that the names in bold print are the people charged with crimes. This gives a very skewed view. The individual photos of child victims, interspersed among so many photos of adults accused of crimes, was in very poor taste.

Also, the fact that you chose to use the photos of two anti-war protesters as the major photo in your story, when most of the crimes chosen for your story have to do with crimes that caused physical harm to individuals, makes one wonder what the Daily Herald views as more serious crimes in this county.

I hope that the editors will review guidelines for what appears in your newspaper.

Suzanne G. Hlotke

Carol Stream

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