What is newsworthy?

We have been readers of your newspaper for many years and until recently thought you reported news that was both relevant and current. But the failure to report on the tragic death of a 32-year-old disabled man in Cocoa, Fla., has caused me to question what the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette considers “newsworthy.”

This man in Florida drowned in a pond in a park while a group of teenagers nearby watched and did nothing to help the drowning man. They recorded his death and mocked him from a distance, using all sorts of unspeakably foul language. One of the teens, when questioned by the police later, showed no remorse for his actions, even smirking about it. These teens will not be prosecuted because they did not violate any laws despite their cruelty.

Yet the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette apparently did not find this a newsworthy story. It seems it didn’t appear once in the newspaper. I am compelled to ask: Why?

LAURA BLACK Jacksonville