THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 22, 1996 TAG: 9609210019
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LYNN FEIGENBAUM
LENGTH: 97 lines
``Case No. 95-031343: One night, one meeting, one murder.''
Thus began reporter Mike Mather's compelling two-day series last weekend on how police solved the murder of Jennifer Lea Evans, the Georgia college student who disappeared from a Virginia Beach nightspot in June 1995.
It's a case that is fresh in the minds of readers because, earlier this month, a second defendant was found guilty of first-degree murder in Evans' death.
Adding to the high profile of the case were the three people involved, all in their early 20s with promising futures. The victim was a pre-med student, planning a career in pediatrics; the two men accused of killing her were trainees in the Navy's elite SEAL program.
But what made this case compelling also made it a highly sensitive one, and nearly a dozen readers voiced their discomfort with the mini-series.
Like ABC's ``NYPD Blue'' (a favorite of mine), this behind-the-scenes case history was a reminder of the many convolutions involved in solving a crime, from the complexities of the law to the fact that police officers have a life outside their beat. But at least a TV crime drama distances us from reality by being fictitious and set in some far-flung city.
The Jennifer Evans case not only happened here, it involved the military community - and several callers said they were tired of hearing the suspects referred to as ``former SEAL trainees.'' Also, to some readers, the black-and-white sketches accompanying the two stories were inappropriate.
A North Carolina reader objected to the newspaper portraying a murder case as ``a novel with pictures.'' A young woman's life was destroyed, she said, ``and to turn it into a story. . . is appalling.''
Sarah Marrero of Norfolk felt the series was ``exploitive'' and ``tabloid quality,'' while Susan Reynolds of Virginia Beach said it's time to ``let the Evans girl rest in peace.''
True, the story dominated the front page on Sunday and Monday, and two open pages each day. But the text was more about the people involved, and the development of the case, than lurid details of the murder or descriptions of the body.
In contrast, a few of the drawings - by courtroom sketch artist Betty Wells - were uncomfortably graphic. Did we really need to see an artistic representation of Evans being attacked in the car? Or two men carrying her body?
I hear what some readers are saying: Let's put this tragedy behind us.
But there were others who, like Selina Foreman, found the series ``full of suspense (even though you know the outcome), intrigue and sadness.'' And MaryEllen Pitard, who drove around Williamsburg looking for a newspaper with Part 3 (there were only two).
Added Foreman: ``I'd like to see more of this kind of in-depth reporting in The Pilot.''
Dial M for Mad. Often, it's not what we report that disturbs readers as much as its appearance or layout. That's a risk the newspaper chose to take three years ago when it committed to a very striking, colorful redesign of its section fronts relying heavily on graphics and ``big words.''
Had ``Case No. 95-031343'' been just a one-column story on the front page, without graphics, we probably would have heard nary a complaint. Of course, it would have been a less interesting presentation.
Another such ``risk'' came up last Sunday on the front of the MetroNews section. The story was about telephone scams that can cost customers dearly, such as one woman who got a bill of more than $1,000 in August.
That bill was the main artwork at the top of the page, with the headline ``TELEPHONE TRICKERY'' superimposed on top of it. Clearly visible were the name and logo of Bell Atlantic.
That did not go down well with the phone company - its public relations director asked for, and got, a correction. He pointed out that Bell Atlantic was simply the carrier and billing agent. It had nothing to do with any ``trickery.''
I'm a big fan of newspaper graphics, and always have been. But they can easily give a wrong message and I think we have to be extra careful of this, especially with serious news stories.
Ideomatics. The assignment was bigotry in the news. And a social studies class at Booker T. Washington High in Norfolk found an example in Tuesday's ``Curtis'' comic strip.
The strip had Mr. Guido, the ``pizza king,'' saying, ``Two bad-a boys-a breakum me windah! Lookat de condish o' me windah!''
The teacher agreed with her students that this broken English showed bigotry toward Italians.
Does it make things better or worse if we poke fun at everybody? An op-ed headline the next day had a decided Teutonic flair. It said, ``Lotto is a very gute vay uff getting nozzing for somezing.''
Ach du lieber!
Sound of silence. I've heard of readers chewing out their newspaper for missing a story. But here's the flip side. . .
The September issue of Presstime, a trade magazine, reports that when the editor of a West Virginia weekly got scooped on a story about flooding, he blamed readers.
``Frankly, I'm sick of you all,'' he wrote in a column. ``You people don't hesitate to call me when you want your idiot drunk husband's name out of the magistrate-court news, but you won't call me with a news story.''
One response: Eyewitnesses were likely too busy fleeing to higher ground to call the paper. . .
by CNB