Photos matter, too

The media has a serious responsibility to present the news about crimes in a balanced manner that doesn’t intentionally sway the reader’s or viewer’s judgment concerning the alleged perpetrator.

Often, the news item will be displayed in text only, and on other occasions the text is supplemented with a photograph. A concern arises when in spite of neutral reporting, an accompanying photo can strongly influence the public’s opinion about the accused person.

Many years ago I had the privilege of serving as the chairman of the Beloit Housing Authority. Our executive director was accused and a year later found guilty of accepting a $900 bribe from a developer of the authority’s low-income housing project. The news article reporting the conviction included a photograph of our employee that was more hostile than the verdict.

A meeting was arranged with the editor of the publication, the attorney for our Housing Authority and myself. The purpose was to protest that of all the many photos of the director in the newspaper’s archives, the photo selection seemed to be intentionally chosen to further humiliate our then ex-employee. The news editor insisted that there was no willful intent to show a biased picture. We had to accept his position in spite of remaining doubts.

That experience came to mind reading the Journal Sentinel March 21 front-page article, “Foster mother charged with abuse of infant.”

After reading that heading and just the beginning of the news report, I took one look at the harsh photo of the indicted woman, Dominique Lindsey, and was all too ready to reach for “the first stone.”

In this case, my point is that the news would have been better served by not including that photo. By all accounts covered in the article, Lindsey may well be guilty of evil, loathsome acts. But the final outcome is obviously up to our judicial system.

It’s unfortunate that this child abuse account has yet to include comment from the state Department of Children and Families to learn whether it assured that the foster mother was accountable to biweekly visits by a case manager. Pathetically, we are all culpable in this infant boy’s maltreatment.

Peter M. Murray Brookfield