Journalists are trained to cover the story, not become
the story. So Linda Blackford’s article Sunday about the racehorse Lunar
Perigee generated some debate at our editors’ meeting Monday morning.
The debate was heightened because we had recently
discussed developing a policy for when (and if) staff members’ children
should write for the paper or be used in photo shoots and the like. I
started that discussion a few weeks ago because I thought I was seeing too many
of those familiar names and faces in print.
If you missed it, Linda’s story Sunday was the
epilogue to an occasional series the Herald-Leader published in recent
years. In 2001, Linda and photographer David Stephenson set out to follow
a thoroughbred from foal to finish – perhaps even the Kentucky Derby
winner’s circle. The horse they chose was Lunar Perigee, which was
born of royal blood at Pin Oak Stud in Woodford County early one morning as
David and Linda watched. They followed Lunar’s growth, development,
training — and, ultimately, disappointing racing career.
Over the years, David continued to keep up with Lunar
as he worked his way down thoroughbred racing’s career ladder to claiming
races in West Virginia. So when David heard that staff writer Amy Wilson
was looking for a great, inexpensive horse for her daughter to ride, well, one
thing led to another. Now, the one-time Derby hopeful is back in the
Bluegrass as a much-loved pet — a better fate than many unsuccessful
racehorses can look forward to.
So was telling this story self-indulgent on the part
of the newsroom staff? Or was it an important final chapter of a story
already familiar to Herald-Leader readers? Although some disagreed, I
thought it was the latter. Here was the test for me: Would we have written
the story if Lunar Perigee had ended up as the pet of another little girl whose
parent didn’t work in our newsroom? Absolutely.
Our goal is to cover our community, not ourselves.
At the same time, though, I think it’s OK to occasionally let
Herald-Leader readers know that their newspaper is produced by real people,
their neighbors.
If you have any thoughts on the subject, I would love
to hear them.
Tom Eblen
Managing Editor
Keep up the great work! You’ve got some great mojo going with this blog…
On the topic above, I think as long as you’re presenting them in an unbiased manner, there’s no reason not to cover stories that might include people who write for or are involved with the paper… It’s only when you’re covering things that involve employees and require you to take a solid stand that it seems unethical to talk about..