Backing into Caldwell scandal story at The Oregonian

In a front page story on Monday, The Oregonian reported the death of its Editorial Page Editor Bob Caldwell. In the story, editors and publishers praised the popular 63-year-old editor, who had helped guide two Oregonian editorial writers to a Pulitzer.

Then, after the story appeared, the circumstances surrounding his death revealed another side to Caldwell. He had died after having sex with a 23-year-old PCC student in her Tigard apartment.

The Oregonian rightly printed a story today, but they did so in a manner that revealed how agonizingly difficult it was for the paper's staff to face and report the facts.

The story (shown here. Click on it to make it bigger.) painfully backs into the embarrassing news.

As they say in the business, the lead is buried.

The headline tells us that Caldwell died in a Tigard apartment. Is that news?

The subhead tells us that he died after “a woman called 9-1-1 to report he was unresponsive.” Is that news?

The lead tells us that Caldwell was in the woman’s apartment and that she was 23 years old.

We’re getting warmer....

Finally, in the second paragraph we learn “The woman called 9-1-1 to report that Caldwell, 63, was coughing and unresponsive after a sex act.”

Presumably with her.

The story goes on from there. “The woman told deputies she met Caldwell about a year ago at Portland Community College. Caldwell, she said, knew she didn’t have much money so he provided her cash for books and other things for school in exchange for sex acts in her apartment.”

Any freshman journalism student would recognize where the news is in the story and write a headline and lead to reflect it.

(A sodden thought: One wonders how Caldwell, once the paper's 'public editor,' himself would have written such a story involving a top Oregonian editor. Fate spared him the task. The public editor, by the way, often dealt with matters of journalistic ethics and definitions of "the news." The paper dropped the position some years ago. It seems to be time to restore it.)

The on-line commentary about today’s article raises the usual ethical arguments. “Let him rest in peace.” “Is this news?” “Is he a public figure?” “Does it matter?”

Yes, this is news, sad and embarrassing as it is. Yes, as one comment notes, the editorial page editor of the state’s largest newspaper is indeed a public figure. And, yes, it does matter.

There’s another story here and it has to do with PCC and, more generally, the plight of college students. For six years I taught journalism at PCC. Many of the students are in desperate financial straits. My guess is that this young woman was not — and is not — alone in her desperation. That's a story that still needs telling.

That Caldwell would take advantage of this student's plight is deplorable...and, yes, newsworthy.

But is it news?

In the current issue of my hyperlocal on-line newspaper, The Hillsdale News, I wrote the following editorial. It raises some important questions, which I posed to my readers. I'm looking for comment from Red Electric readers as well.

Recently I've been challenged to answer the most basic question in journalism: What is news? Or more specifically, what is the news I should include in this hyperlocal publication?

I frequently get calls and e-mails from readers who want to bring certain worrying events to my attention. I'll give you some examples, but first let me share a few principles I try to use in determining what is important to pass on to readers.

Number one is "Do no harm." That's not always easy, but at least it raises two related questions: Will the story cause harm and to whom? Can this harm be justified? Will the harm caused by public exposure lead to a greater good?

Another question is whether the "story" will resolve itself. Will the parties involved find a solution on their own without my exposing it to public view? Indeed, will public exposure make it even more difficult to resolve.

Next, is there a public need to know about a problem? Does it violate a matter of public policy? Is it illegal? Are elected officials involved? Is public money involved? If so, how much?

Finally, is this a story that is wider in scope than Hillsdale? Has it been covered, or should it logically be covered, in a media outlet with a wider readership?

With those "news values" in mind consider these stories.

1. A citizen's complains at a neighborhood association meeting about a proposed new brew pub.

2. Landlords in Hillsdale have been named in a widely published city-wide report about discriminatory landlords.

3. A parent has submitted a formal complaint to the State and to the school district about a teacher, accusing the teacher of presenting issues in a biased way. The parent criticizes school administrators of being slow to respond.

4. Another parent complains about the rental of City parks facilities to parents who then fail to supervise teens using those facilities. The result has been a public disturbance and the alleged illegal use of drugs and alcohol.

Note that by simply writing those few words, I'm alerting parties concerned that the stories are on my radar. That may have effect in itself.

Before I share how I applied my "news values" screen to each, I invite you to apply your own to the stories. Question: Would you report on and publish these stories in the Hillsdale News?

What did I do? Let's take them one by one:

1. The objection to the new brew pub came up at a recent Hillsdale Neighborhood Association meeting. Both the complainant and the pub owner were present. The consensus at the meeting was that the two parties should sit down and work out the concerns. I decided to let that happen without publicity. I told both to get in touch with me if they were at an impasse. Sitting next to me was Jim Mayer of The Oregonian. He chose to write the story which ended up in the June 11 Oregonian in the "Community" section. It was also on his news blog, where it attracted the all-too-familiar vituberative comments.

2. The landlord story was widely reported in The Oregonian so I decided to let it go. I may follow up later to see how renewed efforts to enforce anti-discriminatory regulations are working here in Hillsdale.

3. I also chose to let the complaint about the teacher work its way through the system. In fact, the ability, or inability, of the school district and state authorities to deal with the complaint seemed more important than the alleged bias. I'm watching this one to see what happens.

4. The complaint about seemingly negligent parents renting facilities to be used by unsupervised teens should be shared with the officials renting the space. If the problem persists after the complaint is lodged, I'd pursue the story.

There it is. Now you make the call. As always, I'm interested in what you are thinking.