I want to give some insight into this week's issue of Connect Statesboro, and why (and how) we covered the tragedy at Virginia Tech like we did. I'm guessing that I'm going to get some feedback, and I want to have one nice, convenient spot to point critics at to clarify the way we work.
Primarily, we're an entertainment publication. However, I have a higher responsibility than that. As the alt-weekly vanguard of Statesboro, I want Connect Statesboro to be much more than just a bar magazine every week. Our readership demographic is vastly different than the Statesboro Herald's, so when news comes out that directly affects the younger set, it's my duty to present it to them.
What happened in Blacksburg is the big story of the week, month, maybe the year. It has a special resonance with Statesboro. We're both smaller southern cities, we both have sizable universities.
When the news started pouring in Monday, I knew that we had to do something for our readers. The biggest question was "What if it happened here?" I think that Marcy E. Thornton answered that question well in her story on page 5. She did an incredible job, incidentally, considering that she was hospitalized briefly Monday night (unrelated), yet still managed to get the story in under deadline.
We also wanted to give Statesboro a voice. Connect doesn't operate in a vacuum, so I sent out Ashe Tuck to speak with people and get their thoughts on the tragedy. Ashe also went above and beyond on her part.
I also had a personal connection to the story. Josh Eckstein, who hosts jakehallman.com for me, is on staff at VT. I e-mailed him that day to make sure he was okay, and he told me what was going on. With his permission, I printed it.
One of the most important considerations in my mind was how we were going to treat the story visually. There was talking. Lots of talking. We didn't want to sensationalize (I caught "Inside Edition" today, and it nearly made me sick), we didn't want to "cash in" on the killings, and we damned sure didn't want to go with cheap scares to make people pick up the magazine ("Could you be shot in class? Find out inside!)
I'm going to do something unorthodox here, but the picture there is the original cover for the magazine, our working model from Monday afternoon through Wednesday afternoon.The picture is graphic. It's shocking, and it's something that people would definitely pick up and want to read more about - that's a primary concern, seeing as I think the story inside is a good one with valuable information that serves the public trust.
At the same time, the picture is, well, graphic and shocking. That's someone who has what appears to be a visible gunshot wound. There's a lot of blood. In the news business, context is everything, and there are special considerations. I discussed it with editors for other in-house publications. I discussed it with our publisher, Randy Morton.
And in the end, we decided to go with another photo - one that also had police carrying out a wounded student, but wasn't as blood-soaked. Compelling arguments were made both for using the original photo and not using it, but, honestly, the concern that tipped the scales was that Connect Statesboro is distributed for free in restaurants. We didn't want someone with a weak stomach glancing over at the cover and not being able to finish their meal.
The verbiage on the front was another source of concern. Though the question on everyone's mind was "could it happen here," I thought that was sensationalistic and a bit of a stretch. Of course it could happen here. That's the nature of random crazy people and the things that they do. Last year we had a nationally-televised hostage crisis. Weird, often terrible things happen, and they happen at random. It's one of the prices we pay for living in a free society.
Or for just living, for that matter.
On the other hand, "what if it happened here" was a much better question. Are local police equipped to handle it? How do they view the situation? There's been a lot of talk in the national media about whether Virginia Tech made mistakes in their handling of the crisis, but did they follow a standard procedure that we'd follow here?
Another cover idea that was discussed (briefly) was the barrel of a gun pointing toward the reader. It's a strong graphical idea, but I felt that it hit far too close to home considering Monday's events. See the picture on the left? That hit the media tonight (Wednesday). We had no idea, and it's pretty close to the aforementioned cover through, so I'm doubly glad we went with the photo from the scene.And in the end, we ended up with the cover you see on stands today (and on Connectstatesboro.com).
Did I make the right decision? I think so. Connect doesn't always indulge in hard-hitting, "real" journalism, but we certainly have the skillset to do it, and do it right. I'm proud of the work my staff put in this week - not only on the handling of the big story, but also how we put out our largest issue ever, at 40 pages. I'd love to know what you all think. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail.
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