Considering the incendiary emotions within a community when people there are murdered, the last thing we want to is see the flames fanned by misinterpretations of our news coverage. That’s what has happened, though, among some Hanapepe businesspersons, all because
Considering the incendiary emotions within a community when people there are
murdered, the last thing we want to is see the flames fanned by
misinterpretations of our news coverage.
That’s what has happened, though,
among some Hanapepe businesspersons, all because of where they saw their town’s
name in print and because of the way media gets lumped together in people’s
minds.
It happened two months ago. The latest of three brutal attacks on a
woman in the West Side area had left a second murder victim. With police saying
a serial killer apparently is loose and some West Siders fearing for their
lives and gossiping about possible suspects, the news coverage was
heavy.
After a couple weeks had passed, Lewis Shortridge, the president of
Hanapepe Economic Alliance, wrote a letter to The Garden Island on behalf of
his group:
“It has come to my attention by members of the association that
your reporting on the murders on the West Side have been headed `Hanapepe.’
Since none of the murders have taken place in Hanapepe, it is ludicrous to make
this referece, and we respectfully request a clarification published in your
newspaper.
“Television coverage has taken your lead in showing a picture of
the Hanapepe Gateway sign in their reporting, as well. This is very damaging to
the image of Hanapepe and surrounding communities.
“This erroneous
reference is not acceptable to the membership and the community of Hanapepe. We
have received numerous phone calls about this.”
The article that apparently
caused the unrest was published Sept. 3 on the front page. It was about
community reaction on the West Side to the murders, and it was datelined
Hanapepe because that’s where the reporter went to talk to people. The headline
was “West Side deals with spectre of killing,” and nowhere in the story was
Hanapepe reported as the place where the murders occurred – because it
wasn’t.
We use datelines – the first word in a story following a reporter’s
byline – to indicate that a writer was physically in a certain community to
cover a story. Some readers mistakenly thought this particular dateline would
cast a bad light on Hanapepe. They’re sensitive to publicity that might cause
people to avoid their community and its businesses. Understandable. Folks
elsewhere on the West Side, including Waimea, have expressed similar sentiment
for their communities.
On the telephone after sending his letter,
Shortridge said his merchant group’s members were upset more over TV’s coverage
of the murder case. That’s logical, considering the wider audience off-island
for the TV station.
Media often gets painted with a wide brush. If one
outlet’s coverage riles people up negatively, we all get blamed.
Meanwhile,
whoever killed two women and brutally assaulted a third is still at-large. As
the investigation continues, we’ll keep covering the case by reminding readers
that it started on the West Side but has islandwide implications.
And
we’ll make a deal with certain folks in Hanapepe: We’ll try not to use their
town’s name in datelines if they’ll accept the fact that Hanapepe can’t stay
out of the story.
TGI editor Pat Jenkins can be reached at 245-3681 (ext.
227) and [
HREF=”mailto:pjenkins@pulitzer.net”>pjenkins@pulitzer.net]
