A new path formed by your concerns

Every business or organization has moments where they need to stop and look at what they’re doing and ask if it’s the best way for their mission and the people they serve.

That’s a question we’ve asked ourselves at the Daily American Republic a lot in the past few years.

We know we don’t always find the right answer on the first attempt, but we feel like being willing to ask the questions is a first and important step.

The question we’ve been looking more closely at in recent weeks is how and when photos of people accused of crimes or under arrest should be used in the newspaper, on our website and on social media.

News organizations across the country have been looking at topics like this as well.

The nature of the internet and social media today means that small or less significant incidents can follow a person for the rest of their lives, coloring every Google search by prospective employers and other aspects of their lives.

Placement and wording can also influence what people perceive has happened.

Concerns like that are what made us look more closely at our own habits and what our practices should be going forward.

We received feedback from the community following the publication of the May 13 edition that raised these concerns.

We had two separate stories relating to shootings, one that occurred in 2018 and a May 11 incident, and each story was accompanied by a photo.

In the 2018 shooting story, the photo was of an individual who had pleaded guilty in the case of a shooting death.

In the May 11 shooting story, the photo was of an individual arrested on warrants, with a weapon, at the scene of the shooting. Police said, and we reported in the story, that it was not believed that Zechariah McDonald had injured the people wounded in this incident. Information on the nature of McDonald’s warrants was not available at the time of publication, but we later learned they were of a lesser nature.

The questions we received was why did McDonald’s arrest raise to the level of a front page photo.

Our answer wasn’t satisfactory to either for those who asked the question, or for ourselves as spent time discussing the matter.

Breaking news situations are hard to explain, but developments can happen both very quickly and very slowly.

It’s a little like trying to put the pieces of a puzzle together before you know what the picture will be or how many pieces you’ll have.

Because it can be difficult to know which pieces will be important when part of the puzzle is still missing, our approach has been to share all of the facts we have confirmed at the time. Some facts may end up being more important once the puzzle is complete, and others may be less important.

We are trying now to develop a better strategy for how those facts are relayed, including what should raise to the level of a front page photo.

Certainly, they should be when public safety is in question or when authorities are actively seeking a suspect at large or information on an individual.

Other areas will need to be taken on a case-by-case basis, but with strong consideration of the factors involved.

In this instance, if the same incident took place today, McDonald’s photo would either be used inside the print edition or not all based on additional questions we would ask while developing the story.

In some circumstances, we may opt not to use photos if charges have not been filed.

Unfortunately, we can’t say we have a blanket policy where we will always do this, or do that, because each situation is unique.

But we can promise to ask more questions and look more closely at the decisions being made.

We take seriously the responsibility that we have to provide fair, accurate and informative coverage to our community about the topics that matter to our residents.

We want to do that in a way that best serves our communities and will continue to look for ways to improve how we do that.

Thank you also to everyone who reached out and shared their concerns. While we weren’t able to give everyone the answer they wanted at the time this incident occurred, all of those conversations helped us form an idea of the path we need to take now.

— Daily American Republic