Decisions, decisions (picking a front page)

I had one of the reporters -- Mike Faher -- put together a package of stories for the upcoming AIDS Walk taking place in Brattleboro on May 19. The package consisted of three stories -- a preview on the walk, itself; a feature on Shirley Squires, who has been a notable participant for many years (her son died of AIDS many years ago); and a feature on the 25th anniversary of the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont. There was photos with those feature, along with an info/data box offering Vermont AIDS statistics.

Needless to say, it was a lot of content, and ultimately forced the editorial board to decide on the best way to use the stories and present the content to readers. Given the Shirley Squires feature stood good on its own, we ran that as the main Page 1 story for the Weekend Reformer of May 12-13.

The rest of the package runs in the daily paper (on May 15). It's a good way to keep the community talking about the upcoming AIDS Walk, instead of jamming everything into one issue. It also allowed the opportunity to "tease" the upcoming content in the weekend paper, to give readers something to look forward to.

As is the case on a sometimes daily basis, we are forced to hold stories due to space concerns, or content, or even topic. For example, when Vermont Yankee was dealing with relicensing and safety issues, there were days when Vermont Yankee stories could have monopolized the front page. Instead, we'd choose to hold certain angles in lieu of getting different types of news or news from other towns on to the front page (in an effort to still appeal to as many readers/serve as many readers as possible). Likewise, rather than have three-plus pieces on the front page one day, we spread it out.

<i>I'm sure there will be many more blogs on front pages in the coming weeks ... </i>

A picture’s worth …

Frank Foster appears in Windham District Court Friday afternoon. (Zachary P. Stephens/Reformer)

After close to a month eluding area police, wanted in connection with
a Hinsdale, N.H., home invasion, Frank Foster was arrested this past
Thursday night. He appeared in court, shackled and bleeding, which is
when our photographer captured several images, one of which ran
online that day and in print on Saturday.

Since then, we've had a lot of complaints/discussion in the newsroom via phone calls, e-mails and comments on Facebook. Was our use of this photo justified? Was it inflammatory or exploitative? Was it newsworthy?

First and foremost, if we felt the photo was either of those things (inflammatory or exploitative),
we would have run it with an editor’s note, or perhaps not at all.

That being said, that photograph told a story — the story of a man
that was “on the run” for several weeks. A man that not only
allegedly took part in a home invasion on April 15, but also
allegedly threatened to slash a woman’s throat on April 23, before
fleeing in a stolen car. This man was furloughed from prison in
Vermont just two months before the home invasion, after serving time
for for violating the conditions of parole; a man who, when
photographers took his pictures in the courtroom last Friday, looked
at them and cursed and threatened those men for doing their jobs.

While the wounds to Foster’s face were inflicted prior to him being
captured on Thursday night, all evidence seems to imply he declined
treatment (on several occasions).

It should be noted that Foster has only been charged, not convicted,
of the above-mentioned crimes. We look forward to watching his case
unfold in the court system.

Until then, Foster appearing in court, “shackled and bleeding,” told
a story that day. And you know what they say about pictures ....