Media response depends on information, resources

In her decades in the newspaper business, Mary Sharp, senior content editor at The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, has made countless news judgments. As deadlines perpetually loom, Sharp, like other editors, doesn't always have the chance to pause and evaluate each decision.

Some decisions can't escape the gaze of hindsight, like when The Gazette provided little coverage - just an online news brief - when University of Iowa student Jacques Similhomme went missing Sept. 28. He was found dead on Oct. 10.

“The bottom line is we did not do a good job in the Similhomme case. There's no doubt about that,” Sharp said. “I reviewed my own decision after this, and I wasn't pleased. ... What bothered me is that (the family) had to search for themselves.”

While Sharp wishes The Gazette had paid more attention to Similhomme's disappearance, she says such decisions are far from cut and dry.

In shrunken and often reorganized newsrooms like those of The Gazette, communication with police and between staff members is often muddled. As editors balance the relevance of other stories each day, news judgments about each missing-person case can be difficult to make.

“It's sort of like a Ouija board. Do we? Don't we? What's the right thing to do,” Sharp said, describing the uncertainties of each decision.

Thousands of people are reported missing each year, many of whom are runaway juveniles or adults who have intentionally wandered off.

According to an annual report issued by Iowa's missing-person clearinghouse, 5,338 people were reported missing across the state in 2009, a low number in comparison to recent years. In 2000, police received reports of 7,439 missing Iowans.

Of the reports in 2009, police classified 90 percent as missing for unspecified reasons, a category that generally encompasses people who intentionally go missing.

This still leaves about 500 cases that law enforcement might consider legitimate. Nearly half were missing adults and disabled juveniles, and officials listed the other half as being in danger.

Why don't news organizations report on these cases? A general lack of information and poor communication with police may be partly to blame.

Of four still missing and endangered Des Moines residents who vanished in 2009, zero - including then 2-year-old Devonta Love - have received mention in the Des Moines Register.

Kathy Bolten, metro editor at the Register, said her paper will not report on a missing person without the go-ahead from police, even if a family requests publicity.

Randy Evans, assistant managing editor at the Register, said that editors should be careful but also flexible.

“If we wait for law enforcement to tell us (to publish a report), there are all sorts of reasons why something may happen,” he said. “We have to guard against creating our own blind spots to interesting news developments.”

When Martin Davis, 52 - brother of former University of Iowa wrestler Barry Davis - disappeared while snowmobiling in January, the Press Citizen and Gazette printed multiple articles within the first weeks of the search, some as long as 500 words. The Press-Citizen's Executive Editor Jim Lewers and Sharp said that communication with police and Davis' family had been clear and immediate.

When Jacques Similhomme went missing, The Gazette received little case specifics from police and no information from the university, Sharp said. Although Jacques' father, Dessalines Similhomme, phoned the newsroom requesting help, the Haitian man's broken English was often difficult to understand.

Ultimately, because of staff shortages, Sharp said, The Gazette doesn't have the resources to gather more information on such cases.

“There's always a lag time in judgment, and resources are limited,” Sharp said. “You need to ask yourself: Is it worth sending a reporter? What good would publishing do?”

According to Dessalines Similhomme, publishing may have meant recruiting more public involvement in the case, comforting his family and possibly finding his son's body before the Cedar River rendered it barely identifiable.

“This is a really sad story; this distressed family couldn't find their son,” said Sharp. “Personally, I feel bad for the family, but professionally, it was a tough call.”

By Jim Malewitz, IowaWatch

In her decades in the newspaper business, Mary Sharp, senior content editor at The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, has made countless news judgments. As deadlines perpetually loom, Sharp, like other editors, doesn't always have the chance to pause and evaluate each decision.

Some decisions can't escape the gaze of hindsight, like when The Gazette provided little coverage - just an online news brief - when University of Iowa student Jacques Similhomme went missing Sept. 28. He was found dead on Oct. 10.

“The bottom line is we did not do a good job in the Similhomme case. There's no doubt about that,” Sharp said. “I reviewed my own decision after this, and I wasn't pleased. ... What bothered me is that (the family) had to search for themselves.”

While Sharp wishes The Gazette had paid more attention to Similhomme's disappearance, she says such decisions are far from cut and dry.

In shrunken and often reorganized newsrooms like those of The Gazette, communication with police and between staff members is often muddled. As editors balance the relevance of other stories each day, news judgments about each missing-person case can be difficult to make.

“It's sort of like a Ouija board. Do we? Don't we? What's the right thing to do,” Sharp said, describing the uncertainties of each decision.

Thousands of people are reported missing each year, many of whom are runaway juveniles or adults who have intentionally wandered off.

According to an annual report issued by Iowa's missing-person clearinghouse, 5,338 people were reported missing across the state in 2009, a low number in comparison to recent years. In 2000, police received reports of 7,439 missing Iowans.

Of the reports in 2009, police classified 90 percent as missing for unspecified reasons, a category that generally encompasses people who intentionally go missing.

This still leaves about 500 cases that law enforcement might consider legitimate. Nearly half were missing adults and disabled juveniles, and officials listed the other half as being in danger.

Why don't news organizations report on these cases? A general lack of information and poor communication with police may be partly to blame.

Of four still missing and endangered Des Moines residents who vanished in 2009, zero - including then 2-year-old Devonta Love - have received mention in the Des Moines Register.

Kathy Bolten, metro editor at the Register, said her paper will not report on a missing person without the go-ahead from police, even if a family requests publicity.

Randy Evans, assistant managing editor at the Register, said that editors should be careful but also flexible.

“If we wait for law enforcement to tell us (to publish a report), there are all sorts of reasons why something may happen,” he said. “We have to guard against creating our own blind spots to interesting news developments.”

When Martin Davis, 52 - brother of former University of Iowa wrestler Barry Davis - disappeared while snowmobiling in January, the Press Citizen and Gazette printed multiple articles within the first weeks of the search, some as long as 500 words. The Press-Citizen's Executive Editor Jim Lewers and Sharp said that communication with police and Davis' family had been clear and immediate.

When Jacques Similhomme went missing, The Gazette received little case specifics from police and no information from the university, Sharp said. Although Jacques' father, Dessalines Similhomme, phoned the newsroom requesting help, the Haitian man's broken English was often difficult to understand.

Ultimately, because of staff shortages, Sharp said, The Gazette doesn't have the resources to gather more information on such cases.

“There's always a lag time in judgment, and resources are limited,” Sharp said. “You need to ask yourself: Is it worth sending a reporter? What good would publishing do?”

According to Dessalines Similhomme, publishing may have meant recruiting more public involvement in the case, comforting his family and possibly finding his son's body before the Cedar River rendered it barely identifiable.

“This is a really sad story; this distressed family couldn't find their son,” said Sharp. “Personally, I feel bad for the family, but professionally, it was a tough call.”