Wherever I travel to, I like buy and read the local newspapers for that area. Some of it is for travel interest – what’s going on in the area to which I have travelled? Some of it is for professional curiosity – what do they do better or worse than where I work? The differences are interesting, sometimes confusing, and in some cases a bit disturbing.
Canadian newspapers have a certain feel to them, regardless of the market you’re in. The usual sections (news, sports, etc) and types of advertising, and community events are pretty much the same. Except for the independents or small chain newspapers, there has been a homogenizing of newspapers with the large conglomerates buying up everything. The same can be said for radio stations too.
American newspapers are similar to Canadian ones, but there are some significant differences. That was highlighted on my first trip to Florida nearly 20 years ago. Opening up a copy of The Scranton Times-Tribune during a rest stop was surprising, as all the real estate transactions for the entire month for Lackawanna County were printed.
Every sale, from who to whom, the street address, and for how much – all in black ink for everyone else to read. I guess no one is able to lie about what kind of a “deal” they really got on that fixer-upper – the whole neighbourhood will know. It takes a title search at the land registry office in Ontario to find that kind of information.
There is a lot of variety in newspapers in the US from state-to-state. There’s also a lot of differences in what people call news. Flagler News in Florida may have had a beach report column, but the St. Petersburg Times had an alligator report. I was glad to have both.
Florida newspapers for a while also had a run on stories about children falling into wells, which was not a trend I think any parent wanted to see.
When travelling to Florida, one of our rest stops was Florence, South Carolina. A headline that jumped out at me on one stop was that the city council needed to revise its animal control bylaw because several pythons were freed when the owner no longer wanted to keep the pets. The Florence Morning News reported that council was divided on whether pet spiders should be added to the bylaw. I did not stop on the return trip to find out how that went. In fact, I don’t think we’ve ever stopped in Florence since. The Caravan may even speed up when we enter the city, to get through it faster.
Across the river from where I live, northern New York State has interesting papers. Many of the newspapers remaining in the area like The Malone Telegram or the Ogdensburg Journal, all have many criminal stories. Those stories name names too, except in very extreme cases. Domestic abuse charges often reveal the name(s) of accused people, as do assault charges, and so on.
It’s not just adult crimes. If a 10 year old steals some candy from a store and is charged, that kid’s name will live on in infamy on newsprint, and nowadays online. If you enjoy true crime stories, that stuff is in spades in those newspapers.
Contrast this against crime reporting in Canada: there is a lot more protection for those who are charged. I am unsure if I agree we are better than the Americans, or if they are better than us on this.
Naming names when people are charged is good when it comes to notifying the public of possible safety concerns, or when a criminal act has happened. But the court of public opinion is a lot different than the court system. Unless a case is followed from start-to-finish by a newspaper, you don’t see the disposition. Often charges are dropped in cases, and that is not reported, meaning people could be unintentionally affected by news reporting.
In the case of youth crime, I believe not reporting people’s names is entirely appropriate. Only if a youth is being tried as an adult should the name be published. Often crimes committed by youth are due to circumstance, peer pressure, or poor decision making skills. Having those names live on in the public record for many decades after the crimes have been committed, the people charged, and any sentences completed, is setting up a person to fail before becoming an adult.
Furthermore, given the prevalence of social media and virtual lynch mobs when crimes happen – like recent damage to the waterfront where I live – not naming names is the safest course of action.
I think Canadian news gets it right more than the Americans overall. And thankfully, there is no debate here on whether snakes and spiders are part of any animal control bylaw.
This column was originally published in the July 10, 2024 print edition of the Morrisburg Leader.
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