When in doubt, bring in the professionals and let the story be told.
That is exactly what the Kansas City Star has done by having two-time “Journalist of the Year” Christine Vendel and other veteran reporters put together the definitive story on the entire Jovan Belcher incident.
Vendel did a remarkable job piecing together the final hours of what exactly transpired that led Belcher to kill his girlfriend and then head out to Arrowhead Stadium where the Chiefs player then killed himself.
She uncovers details not previously mentioned in other local or national stories and paints the clearest picture to date on the horrific incident. As an example, she revealed that the police had found Belcher sleeping in his Bentley and let him drive home prior to the murder.
She also chronicled exactly what transpired during the entire time in riveting fashion.
(UPDATE: The New York Post is now reporting Belcher spent the night at another woman’s apartment)
Credit also goes to veteran Star sportswriters Randy Covitz, who revealed in a sidebar article police incidents involving Belcher when he was at the University of Maine, and Adam Teicher for an enlightening Q & A with Chiefs’ head coach Romeo Crennel.
Columnist Sam Mellinger did a fine job chronicling how difficult it is for Belcher’s teammates to handle the situation. He also reiterated our earlier view that the Chiefs’ PR folks have done an admirable job of crisis communications.
Overall, it was quality journalism from the McClatchy-owned paper that highlighted the benefits of quality journalism being delivered by professionals.
OVERKILL ON STORY
Pardon the pun, but it was overkill on the part of The Star. The Sunday A/B section alone had roughly 121 column inches of material devoted to what is a minor tragedy in the grand scheme of things, and I’m sure more mention of the murder-suicide could be found in the sports section. Then there was additional coverage on Monday. We’re not talking November 22, 1963 here.
PUTTING THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE
Let’s just put things in perspective, John. We’ve got young men and women dying daily in Iraq and Afghanistan ostensibly in defense of our country and by extension The Star’s freedom to publish what amounts to nearly an entire page on the Belcher tragedy in Sunday’s A/B section and yet these brave soldiers receive scant mention in that same section and not on the front page at that. Is no one interested in the final few hours of their lives or a look back at their high school years, etc., etc.? Are they not worthy of some ink in passing?
STAR JOURNOS DELIVER
One can hardly fault The Star for reporting on a national story that occurred in their own back yard. That’s a critique that is more appropriately leveled at our culture itself.
What this story demonstrates is just how good many of The Star’s journalists are when they’re allowed to produce what they see in front of them. if there is a critique to be leveled at The Star is that it does not use the human resources in a manner that allows them to excel like this more frequently.
GLORIFYING A MURDERER
Yup. All that is interesting and everything, but young Black men die on the streets of our inner city every week, yet how many of us know their names, or when they were buried, or the tragic vacuum created in families by their murder?
How much ink or airtime does our local media afford those victims?
Belcher is a murderer, with his picture and bio repeated ad infinitum across the nation, yet who can say - off the top of their head - the name of his victim, or the victim’s recent history, or recall an interview with the victim’s mother who witnessed Belcher’s violent attack??
Yet we all know the murderer’s name and details of his last moments on earth.
The KC Star is a business, and to make a profit, it must produce quality journalism. I get it.
But when does quality journalism about a horrific tale become aggrandizement for a murderer?
SIX GRAFS
99 previous murder victims this yr get six grafs inside what’s left of the new section. WTF