We’ve had a few viewers asking questions about our report concerning the Ferris High School coach and teacher who’s accused of inappropriate contact with a student. At least one viewer wonders why we would report the details of this story, including the coach’s name, since he hasn’t been arrested.
First, here’s the text version of our story:
SPOKANE — The Ferris High School head boy’s basketball coach has been placed on paid administrative leave and is under investigation by the Spokane Police Department. A Spokane school district spokesperson confirmed Thursday afternoon that Don Van Lierop was placed on leave Wednesday night. Spokane Police confirm they are investigating Van Lierop, but that he has not been arrested, nor have any charges been filed. They say a Spokane student came to the police department Wednesday night and made a complaint involving inappropriate contact by Van Lierop.
The school district is not releasing any additional details.
Van Lierop is the head men’s basketball coach and has led Ferris to back-to-back state championships. He also teaches social studies.
The decision to name Van Lierop was not made lightly, though after discussion involving several members of our staff, it became abundantly clear to me that it was the right one. While Van Lierop has not yet been charged with any crime, there is sufficient evidence for the SPD’s sex crimes unit to launch an investigation, and for the school district to suspend him.
While we may choose not to name a “typical citizen” in a similar set of circumstances, Mr. Van Lierop is not a typical citizen. As a teacher and coach, he’s is in a position of authority over children. He’s been granted a high level of public trust, and the public - especially Ferris students and their families - have every right to know what’s going on. If and when Van Lierop is cleared of the accusations, we’ll report that, too - just as prominently as we’ve reported the initial story.
As Melissa Luck and Annie Bishop have detailed in their excellent blogs posted below, this has been an exceptionally difficult day for journalists covering the Joseph Duncan death penalty hearing. Ultimately, KXLY made a choice to leave out some of the most gruesome details of the case described in today’s opening statements by the prosecution.
Other media outlets have chosen to report those details, and there are certainly legitimate reasons to do so, given that this is an exceptionally high-profile case with so much at stake, namely, the life of a killer and justice for the victims and their families. (The Spokesman-Review, whose coverage has been exhaustive since this story began, has posted the complete transcript of today’s opening statements. Read at your own risk, and I say that in all sincerity.)
After much discussion, we decided to omit some of those details. Though they were being presented for the very first time, I don’t feel they provided additional insight into what took place, except perhaps to make an already heinous crime somehow seem even more so. In my mind, certain details of what the Groene children endured are so profoundly disturbing, it would be borderline unconscionable to present that information either on TV or our website, where anybody - children especially - might innocently stumble upon it. Some may say that’s overly protective. Maybe being the parent of three young girls has made me overly sensitive. Still, I don’t regret our decision.
Some good news for fans of blogs.kxly.com: we’ll be adding more voices to our site in the coming days. Specifically, we have about a half-dozen reporters who have enthusiastically (that may be overstating it) accepted my invitation to write their own blog.
Most reporters here have understandable concerns about expressing their opinions via a blog. After all, aren’t journalists supposed to be objective? My answer is yes, we cover the news objectively. But good journalists can also have opinions, and should be critical thinkers. A blog is the appropriate forum for a reporter to provide greater insight, detail, interesting anecdotes, and yes, opinions, about the stories they cover. I hope you agree, and enjoy the new blogs heading your way. More details later this week…
In case you forgot (and how could you?) here’s the infamous performance.
Today, a federal appeals court rejected a $550,000 indecency fine that the Federal Communications Commission levied against the network. You can read all about the decision here.
Now, a half a million dollars is a drop in the bucket to a television network. But that fine scared the heck out of anyone working at the local level. Because in the wake of Superbowl “outcry” (real or imagined), a new law was passed that increased the fines tenfold for any broadcaster caught violating the FCCobscenity guidelines. Worst case scenario for us, some bystander uses profane language during a newscast live shot, and KXLY gets a $325,000 fine for each utterance. Three expletives, and we could be looking at nearly a million bucks. A network can afford a fine like that. We can’t, and neither can most local affiliates. That’s why many local stations invested in equipment allowing us to operate on a “delay” (in our case, seven seconds) so that we had time to - frantically - delete any profane language or images that might unexpectedly pop up during live TV. The equipment wasn’t cheap, but considering what’s at stake, it’s a wise investment.
Don’t get me wrong. As broadcasters, we have an obligation to take reasonable steps to keep profane material off the airwaves. But I think a $325,000 fine for one curse word or naughty image is…what’s that word? Obscene. Thank goodness that cooler heads at the 3rd U.S Circuit Court of Appeals feel the same way.
Following up on yesterday’s blog about the KTLA iPhone live shot that went wrong, the reporter involved has now offered an on-air apology. Turns out, the offending live shot has been viewed more than 300,000 times on YouTube thus far, and the feedback hasn’t been particularly pleasant.
In my opinion, the reporter’s apology seems reasonably sincere, but then his co-anchors try to turn the whole thing into a joke one more time, and it just doesn’t work. Sometimes you just have to admit you’re wrong, and move on. You can see the whole thing, including the original live shot, below.
Live TV is often unpredicatble, especially for reporters conducting live interviews out on the street. One thing you can control, however, is the the way you treat the public. This reporter in Los Angeles had a rather captive group of iPhone fans on live TV. See what happened next. It’s not pretty…
So it’s been a few (okay, eight) months since my last blog. I posted my last entry just before leaving for China to adopt our daughter, Gabrielle. She’s 21 months old now, and has adjusted to life here in Spokane wonderfully. But those first few weeks were sheer chaos. And sleepless chaos, at that. Gabby spent more time screaming than snoozing at night. She shares a room with her sister Danielle, who’s older than Gabby by just five days (Dani’s our biological daughter - it’s confusing, I know), so Dani wasn’t sleeping much either. And big sister Sophie (5 years old and also adopted from China) took a while to warm up to the idea of sharing the attention with two baby girls. I told myself I’d get back to blogging when things “settled down” in the evenings. Apparently, that’s not going to happen for some time, so I’m forging ahead.
As regular readers of my blog know (and have probably forgotten, given my lapse), this is where I’ll share behind-the-scenes information about KXLY news - its people, our plans, editorial decisions, and new technology we’re adopting. It’s also a place for you to ask questions, criticize, compliment, or make suggestions about our coverage. In an effort to ensure more frequent postings, I’m going to keep my posts brief and to the point, but I do promise to address your concerns as completely as possible. I typically do my blogging at night when my wife is at work at the kids are sleeping, so if it takes a day or two to answer your questions, it’s probably because I have my hands full…as you can see!
