By STEVEN RAY HERNANDEZ
Editor
Editor@sbnewspaper.com
Well I had my first angry San Benito News reader call me this weekend and I thought I might share it with you all.
So I come in on Saturday (my day off) to finish up some web work for the paper and get ahead for the week and the phone rings. Now, technically I don’t have to answer the phone because it’s Saturday and I’m just trying to finish up work so I can enjoy my weekend, but I do.
Apparently, the reader, or should I say ex-reader since he vowed to never buy our paper again, was irate at the fact that we did not publish a story on how a city commissioner’s son was arrested for burglary of a habitation (in Harlingen, no less).
Now, I understand the “gossip” factor that would make this story interesting and appealing to some, but the fact of the matter is this is the News, not a gossip column or a National Enquirer-like publication. Thefts, burglaries, assaults, etc. happen every day in cities and rarely make the News in story form unless the situation was egregious — police blotter maybe, but even then we do not run that section in every edition. I refuse to publish a story on the soul factor that the individual in question is a city commissioner’s son. Why? In part because it’s a catch 22. I don’t run the story and all of a sudden I get calls asking, “Why are you covering for the city commissioner?” But if I do run the story, then you get those calls asking, “Why are you publishing this story, just because he’s the commissioner’s son?”
Now, if the city commissioner had been arrested for burglary, then that would be a horse of a different color, but that was not the case. In fact, there has been four or five burglary of habitations here in San Benito in the past five days alone, but you won’t see us running a story about any of those unless they were related, organized, egregious or part of an ongoing problem in a certain part of our community or the city, at large.
I will add, however, that the caller did mention that he was related to the individuals in question. With that noted, I can only assume there is some family feud he is upset about and it is his goal to get that story out in an attempt to slander his relative’s name. Regardless, his call did not sway my judgment and they will not in the future as well. It’s only been about three weeks since I took over at the helm here and I plan on making several positive changes to the paper, including more sports updates, more “on the scene” coverage, and more investigative reporting. But much of that will come over time as I adjust to the change here and update my contact list. What I will not change is our code of ethics and how we go about delivering the news. With that being said, let me finish by thanking all of our loyal readers who continue to depend on us for the latest breaking and honest news possible. Stay Tuned!
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Keep up the good work always going to be the haters
if, indeed, five burglaries have occurred in five days in San Benito and you, having that knowledge all to yourselves and are not communicating this to the public, then I predict that you won’t be around for long as editor. A commissioner’s son getting busted on burglary charges, unfortunate news for any father, is a valid news story, especially for a small town like San Benito, where candidates are judged on family values. It appears your personal ethics, and most definitely NOT newspaper ethics, are getting in the way of your news judgement. You’re a young cat and you’re still evolving as a news man and because of that, I believe you will come to understand that these stories that you are not publishing DO matter. Five burglaries in less than a week is NOT National Enquirer gossip, those are facts. Finally, there is always a Catch-22 when running a newspaper, but that’s why you get paid big bucks.
Editor,
I had no idea the city commissioners son was running for office.
Oh … you mean he wasn’t?
Not sure why the caller felt the need to cry about it.
Keep doing what you’re doing.
Dearest Editor,
I totally get and understand your editorial; however, how can “this commissioner” be impartial on any public safety discussions or take any actions to ensure that every citizen of San Benito be kept safe when in fact, his son was arrested for the charges mentioned? Furthermore, what about the neighborhood community where “the commissioner” lives? Do you think his neighbors feel safe knowing that his son committed the mentioned crimes and lives with “the commissioner?”
What about them?