The Bee Does It Again

I'm think I'm done with the Sacramento Bee. I held on as long as I could, but today was the final straw. Between the million-and-six ads in every paper and the large majority of articles written by the Associated Press lies what is left of Bee journalism. Today's ire-raising incident was a small one in the large scheme of things, but it expresses a lack of attention to detail that borders on libel.

The August 28, 2009 issue of the Bee carries a huge front page story about the recovery of Jaycee Dugard, who was kidnapped as a child and recovered 18 years later, still in the clutches of her kidnappers. I could go on about the writing style of the article, and how it was written in a very technical and clinical way. Instead, let's move into the middle section of the article and a display of poor journalism.

On page A12, under the subheading "He had no parole violations," the journalist veers off course. Apparently, this reporter briefly interviewed the kidnapper's ex-wife, who now lives in the midwest. She was asked about her ex-husband, and the reporter paraphrased what she said about Garrido. The only quote that the reporter (and I am beginning to use that term loosely) felt the need to include was the following:

"Last I heard, he found God," she said. "He was marrying a Jehovah's Witness lady, somebody he met who visited in Leavenworth."

I could go into the many reasons that this is an example of poor journalism, but I don't have the time or desire to do so. But let me include a couple of complaints here. First, the quote is hearsay. There is no evidence included to substantiate this claim, nor does the writer give any clarification as to whether Garrido actually did associate with Jehovah's Witnesses, whether his wife had been one of Jehovah's Witnesses, or whether they even knew who Jehovah's Witnesses are! Second, and more importantly, the inclusion of this statement could be taken to mean that the reporter has a bias against the Witnesses. Why? Because this was the only quote taken from the telephone call with Christine Murphy, and was completely irrelevant to this story. Add to that the fact that the quote wasn't substantiated, and you have a prime example of poor journalism. Voila!

I am not merely venting in a blog. I sent a letter to the editor of the Bee, largely expressing the same thoughts I am printing here. However, their letter form only allows for 200 words or less, so I had to curtail my ranting a bit. Still, the tag-team that wrote the article about Jaycee should own up to their error. Either admit that the quote didn't belong in the article, back it up with evidence, or admit that there was bias involved. In any case, that little sentence destroyed the integrity of what could have been a very good article. Instead, the Bee once again proved that the print newspaper is in deep trouble, and gives a fine example as to why that is so.