Behind the Headlines

If you saw the Herald-Leader’s front page Thursday — or kentucky.com for a few hours early Thursday morning — you saw something you very rarely see in this newspaper or on this web site: a staff-written story without full attribution. 

The Herald-Leader was the only newspaper to report Thursday morning that lawyers for Gov. Ernie Fletcher and Attorney Gen. Greg Stumbo were negotiating to settle the political hiring investigation that has overshadowed all other news from Frankfort for 15 months. But the sources of that information weren’t identified. The story was confirmed by Stumbo a few hours after our newspaper hit the streets, and the court approved the negotiated settlement later in the day.  The developing story was updated throughout the day on kentucky.com, and other news media followed it as well.

In eight years as managing editor, I can recall only a few of other stories we have written where we didn’t fully identify our sources.  That’s because we believe that full attribution makes for more credible, honest and accurate journalism. Readers know exactly where the information is coming from without having to wonder about any hidden agendas that  unidentified sources might have.  Because of our policy, reporters must go to their editors when they think they have solid, important information they can’t get “on the record.” That leads to good discussions about other sources to try.  And, almost always, our talented reporters find a way to get the story — with full attribution.

So why did we deviate from our usual practice with this story?  Because veteran Frankfort reporter Jack Brammer and political reporter Ryan Alessi had enough good sources, on both sides of the fence, that we knew for certain that negotiations were under way.  However, because of the sensitivity of the negotiations, and concern that the court didn’t want preliminary information leaked, nobody involved was willing to go public. 

At that point, it became a question of whether it was more important to stick to our usual rules of attribution, or to let the public know about a major development in Kentucky’s most important political story.  So, late Wednesday night, we chose to go with the story. We kept it simple, though, even though several  sources told us most points of the eventual settlement.  We didn’t want to report anything unsourced that we weren’t absolutely certain of. We also didn’t want to report settlement details that might change as negotiations progressed.

We’re one of the few news organizations with such strict rules of attribution.  We wish other news organizations were as strict as we are. And we wish we could extend our practice to the wire service reports we publish, especially those from Washington, where it seems nobody ever wants to go “on the record” about anything.

So, despite this exception, don’t look for the Herald-Leader to change its attribution rules, or make exceptions very often.  We still think full, “on the record” attribution produces the most credible journalism.  Do you agree?

Tom Eblen
Managing Editor

At its worst, the Fancy Farm Picnic in Graves County is a very long drive on a very hot day for a very good meal.  At its best, it’s a 126-year-old Kentucky tradition where the state’s top elected officials and wanna-bes give old-fashioned stump speeches to a cheering and heckling crowd of several thousand.  It’s great political theater.  And it is one of the few remaining examples of retail politics in an era when most people’s only exposure to politics is reading newspaper coverage or watching TV attack ads.

And then there’s the food. The good folks of St. Jerome Parish in Fancy Farm barbecue hundreds of
pounds of pork and mutton and serve it up with fresh vegetables and homemade pies.  It’s the best $8 buffet you’ll find anywhere.

As House Speaker Jody Richards remarked at the start of the program Saturday, every Kentuckian knows that the place to be on the first Saturday in May is the Kentucky Derby, and the place to be on the first Saturday in August is the Fancy Farm Picnic.

This year, it was cool by Fancy Farm standards. The temperature was only in the low 90s, rather than
pushing 100, as is often the case. And the political sparring was cooler than usual, too. Secretary of State Trey Grayson was the only statewide officeholder to show up to speak for the GOP, a reflection of Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s troubles. Grayson criticized Fletcher in his speech, and told reporters he might even challenge him for re-election. Ouch. 

If you missed the Fancy Farm coverage in Sunday’s Herald-Leader, you can still find it online here and here and here and here.  And this year, you can get something online that we’ve never offered before: audio of the key speeches, by Grayson, Attorney General Greg Stumbo, Auditor Crit Luallen and Treasurer Jonathan Miller.  They come complete with the crowd’s cheers and jeers.

Coverage of state government and politics is one of the most important things the Herald-Leader does. We know that what happens in Frankfort affects Kentuckians from Covington to Middlesboro,  from Hickman to Jamboree. 

We have a great team in place to cover the story: Jack Brammer, the dean of the Frankfort press corps, has been covering Kentucky government and politics for nearly 30 years. He has been to every Fancy Farm Picnic since 1978.  Larry Dale Keeling, an editorial writer, columnist and blogger, has been following the story almost that long for the editorial board.  And in the past few of years, Ryan Alessi has established himself as Kentucky’s must-read political reporter.  They were all at this year’s picnic, along with chief photographer Charles Bertram, whose terrific photos captured the essence of the event.  I tagged along, too, mostly to eat barbecue. (My main contribution was recording the speeches.) 

As the old poem says, the politics are the damndest in Kentucky.  And nobody covers it better than the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Tom Eblen
Managing Editor