Obituary or hatchet job?
Usually your hatchet jobs are restricted to the English language in your death notices and obituary columns such as the recent obituary of James Stephen Davis. Last week, however, you did a hatchet job on William Daly for events that took place over 30 years ago. Was it newsworthy, or just tabloid journalism?I can understand how you feel. It may seem to some that we went out of our way to recount unpleasant news from Mr. Daly's past in his obituary.
Michael Nattenberg
Believe me, we gave this question careful thought. We always weigh the pain a story may cause against our obligation to inform.
The problem in this case was that we could not report the death of a former Fresno County DA without explaining how -- and why -- his term ended. In the end, we felt we had to provide at least a brief account of the circumstances.
Had we left any mention of Mr. Daly's problems out of the story, we would essentially be whitewashing an unfortunate but unavoidable set of facts. And that, we felt, would have meant breaking our trust with readers, who expect us to give them the full story, even if it is decades old. To answer your question, in short: Yes, it was newsworthy.
Thank you for your detailed reply with which I am in complete disagreement. It may have been newsworthy 30 years ago, but today it was vicious. I believe the story was filled with innuendo and character assassination, notwithstanding the possibility that it may have been true. You deem it newsworthy. I deem it rooting around in muck.
Shakespeare was right: "The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones."
If you adhere to a religion that values compassion for human folly, you would have better passed up an opportunity to do harm to a basically kind person. Is the community better or worse off for the dirt you have uncovered? Worse off, I think. Kindness always betters the community. Meanspiritedness always harms it.
Your answer was spin.
Michael Nattenberg
I fear we will have to agree to disagree on this one. I don't see it as a matter of choosing between kindness and mean-spiritedness, but rather of being honest with our readers. Thanks again for the interesting conversation. I think it will make an illuminating entry in the blog.
