Is This News-Worthy

[LadyMuskie]

There is a story on the front page of the Enquirer today about the arrest of Steve Chabot's son, Brandon at Miami. Apparently Brandon Chabot has been charged with a felony breaking and entering charge as well as being charged with making a false alarm when he pulled a fire alarm in the abandoned building into which he entered illegally.

My question is, do you think this is news? Brandon Chabot is not an elected official. He's a 22 year old college kid who, according to the article, probably had far too much to drink like most college kids and then did something stupid. I realize he broke the law (and am not advocating that he should not be charged), and I am no fan of Steve Chabot, but if Brandon's last name wasn't Chabot, would this story be in the paper? To me, the only way this becomes a story worthy of the front page is if (a) Steve Chabot helped to plan the break in and fire alarm pulling or (b) Steve Chabot tried to cover it up or bribe the police officers in some way to prevent this from becoming a story or to prevent his son from being arrested. To me, this story is completely different from reporting on that paragon of ethics, Bob Mecklenborg, who was caught driving drunk with a stripper in his car. Brandon isn't an elected official and didn't ask to be in the lime light.

[GoMuskies]

Do people find it interesting?

[Porkopolis]

Do people find it interesting?

I think that is the main reason stories like this get published. Every day the Enquirer becomes more and more like a British tabloid. Soon enough we'll have page three girls.

[danaandvictory]

Brandon isn't an elected official and didn't ask to be in the lime light.

I believe that anyone arrested for a felony -- or a misdemeanor for that matter -- has their name in the public record. It's not an invasion of privacy to report publicly available facts. So I would say that Chabot fils may not have intended to put himself in the public spotlight, but he did anyway.

[MHettel]

This is the first time you noticed that possibly we're being spon fed by the media?

THIS is the story that turned the light on for you?

To think that someone with an operating stake in a newspaper would also maybe have political connections is amazing. it would almost be like the politicians are running more than just the government!

[LadyMuskie]

I agree that he committed a crime, a felony, no less, but do you honestly believe that this kind of crime is normally reported on the front page of the paper? If his name wasn't Brandon Chabot it wouldn't have been a story worthy of the front page. It's sensationalist journalism because the guy has a famous last name. Point in case - some moron broke into our neighborhood hardware store to steal copper, was arrested because the police neighborhood HQ is a block down the street, and that story didn't make the papers. However, the week after that break-in, robbery and subsequent arrest we were treated to a front page retrospective of Peanut Jim from the Enquirer and absolutely no mention anywhere in the paper about it. The closest thing was the police blotter in the Community Press the following week.

I just think that college students do many things that are really stupid and that if Brandon's last name had been Smith or Jones, we never would have heard about this.

[LadyMuskie]

This is the first time you noticed that possibly we're being spon fed by the media?

THIS is the story that turned the light on for you?

To think that someone with an operating stake in a newspaper would also maybe have political connections is amazing. it would almost be like the politicians are running more than just the government!

Yes. I'm that big of an idiot. I wonder how I managed to graduate from high school and college. Come to think of it, how do I get out of a bed in the morning without directions?

[Mel Cooley XU'81]

In Chicago when Richie Daley's kid Patrick was racking up serial arrests of the kind described (typically real nice vacation property in Michigan, a pity) this kind of story WAS decidely newsworthy, and it DID get reported.

When young Patrick was never arrested or prosecuted for such, THAT was decidedly NOT newsworthy, and it GOT reported. If you know what I mean.

Let the record show Patrick went on to serve his country with distinction as a Marine in Iraq / AfPak.

Bravo, Patrick.

I await his electoral campaign debut.

[danaandvictory]

I agree that he committed a crime, a felony, no less, but do you honestly believe that this kind of crime is normally reported on the front page of the paper? If his name wasn't Brandon Chabot it wouldn't have been a story worthy of the front page.

The Enquirer is a business. They have to sell papers and drive pageviews to fulfill their fiduciary duties to their shareholders. More people are interested in a Congressman's son committing a felony than a vagrant stealing copper pipe out of a vacant house. It's the marketplace of ideas, or something.

Also, I drank a metric ton in college and never got arrested for a felony. As a result, I didn't end up in the paper. Odd, that.

Moreover, I don't understand what you specifically want the Enquirer to do.

[XU 87]

Moreover, I don't understand what you specifically want the Enquirer to do.

Report news that affects people's lives. Maybe even investigate news that affects people's lives.

The Enquirer has been a crappy newspaper for as long as I can remember. They rarely report on or investigate important stories like city hall corruption, handouts to city officials' friends, or social problems within the city. Instead, we get feel good human interest stories and now sensationalist stories like the one about Chabot's son.

Go ask a Cincinnati police officer what really goes on in some of our neighborhoods. But you'll rarely if ever read such stories in the paper. It's not a feel good story.

[LadyMuskie]

Report news that affects people's lives. Maybe even investigate news that affects people's lives.

The Enquirer has been a crappy newspaper for as long as I can remember. They rarely report on or investigate important stories like city hall corruption, handouts to city officials' friends, or social problems within the city. Instead, we get feel good human interest stories and now sensationalist stories like the one about Chabot's son.

Go ask a Cincinnati police officer what really goes on in some of our neighborhoods. But you'll rarely if ever read such stories in the paper. It's not a feel good story.

Yes! Exactly! You said it so much better than I could have.

[MADXSTER]

The Enquirer is a business. They have to sell papers and drive pageviews to fulfill their fiduciary duties to their shareholders. More people are interested in a Congressman's son committing a felony than a vagrant stealing copper pipe out of a vacant house. It's the marketplace of ideas, or something.


If this is how you truly feel how a newspaper should operate then you have a jaded view or are too young to realize the significant value/stock that readers put into a newspaper.

Maybe they should do a story regarding political corruption within the newspaper. Now that would sell.

[PM Thor]

Report news that affects people's lives. Maybe even investigate news that affects people's lives.

The Enquirer has been a crappy newspaper for as long as I can remember. They rarely report on or investigate important stories like city hall corruption, handouts to city officials' friends, or social problems within the city. Instead, we get feel good human interest stories and now sensationalist stories like the one about Chabot's son.

Go ask a Cincinnati police officer what really goes on in some of our neighborhoods. But you'll rarely if ever read such stories in the paper. It's not a feel good story.

Truth. I made a shooting the other day in a pretty affluent part of town, but it didn't get reported anywhere. Wonder why...

I HATE dayton.

[wkrq59]

The Enquirer is a newspaper. What kind is somewhat irrelevant. The Enquirer, like most Gannett rags follows the long standing, "If it bleeds it leads" ( or ledes as it's said in the business). Like most sensational rags it will print anything derogatory about any athlete be it Xavier (especially) or UC, or Miami (especially). The pros are an especially juicy target. But in answer to the lady's questions, it's just a fact of life as far as newspapers are concerned. I can recommend a movie, "Absence of Malice" for some clarification or All the President's Men," for more.
Newspaper reporters are usually held to high standards, but those standards vary according to the editor, the publisher, the company etc. One editor I worked for wanted stories first, right and fair, and if you couldn't be fair at least make every attempt to do so. Steve Chabot's son is no different from the progeny of any public official. They are all fair game. i don't adhere to that philosophy, but that's the way it is.

[MADXSTER]

Hey Q, what are your thoughts regarding Walter Cronkite?

[XUFan09]

Report news that affects people's lives. Maybe even investigate news that affects people's lives.

The Enquirer has been a crappy newspaper for as long as I can remember. They rarely report on or investigate important stories like city hall corruption, handouts to city officials' friends, or social problems within the city. Instead, we get feel good human interest stories and now sensationalist stories like the one about Chabot's son.

Go ask a Cincinnati police officer what really goes on in some of our neighborhoods. But you'll rarely if ever read such stories in the paper. It's not a feel good story.

Agreed. There's a spectrum between being a sensationalist tabloid and being a serious, critical paper. I don't expect the only paper of a mid-sized city to be all the way to the side of serious critique (sensation does sell), but I think it's fair to criticize a paper for being way too sensationalist and shallow. It's probably not good business either. Newspapers want to please the widest array of customers possible, and they're probably losing a decent number of the more thoughtful customers. I don't know, maybe they're gaining enough in sales through sensation to balance that out, but if the Enquirer is dealing with a situation anything like that of the Pittsburgh papers, it's unlikely.

[wkrq59]

Hey Q, what are your thoughts regarding Walter Cronkite?

He is one of my idols. I didn't mean to defame him by using his tag line. Just in a hurry and it slipped out., 76-53:D