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Shoplifting teacher story: Thoughts?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Batman, Sep 22, 2017.

  1. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    An elementary school teacher in Trenton, N.J., was arrested for shoplifting at a supermarket and The Trentonian went full exposé on her. Most places this might be a line or two in a crime report, but for this they printed her name and where she worked; her husband's name and where he works (he's a captain in the fire department); both of their salaries; and her entire work history.
    Not once in the story did they include details from a police report, like what she stole or the details of the crime. Basically, the things that might have made the story interesting.

    So what I'm interested to ask the board is, is this a bit much for what's likely a misdemeanor? All of the information is public information and I guess she's something of a public figure, but I'm having a hard time seeing a reason for this approach on this story. Seem like a lot of overkill.

    Hamilton elementary school teacher arrested for shoplifting
     
  2. cjericho

    cjericho Well-Known Member

    The coverage is a little extensive for shoplifting. Pretty sure they're looking for negative some comments about public sector workers.
     
  3. hondo

    hondo Well-Known Member

    Also a special education teacher. I suppose she could have gone the Poin route.
    Perhaps a 6+
    [​IMG]
     
  4. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    This is goin to be a @poindexter special of a different sort.
     
    poindexter likes this.
  5. mpcincal

    mpcincal Well-Known Member

    I work for a fairly small paper, probably smaller than the Trentonian, and I can't remember us ever running a story on shoplifting, outside of the daily record we run on one of our sister papers.

    Not only that, the story had a double byline. Really, you needed two reporters on this?
     
    Tweener likes this.
  6. spadjo martin

    spadjo martin Member

    I liked this graf: Sources with intimate knowledge of the situation identified that employee as Naro.

    Intimate knowledge? WTF?
     
  7. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    Yeah, it really felt like a young, overly gung-ho reporter got hold of the story and thought it was a much bigger deal than it actually is.
     
  8. Matt1735

    Matt1735 Well-Known Member

    Or she didn't take a liking to the reporter's relative....
     
  9. Monday Morning Sportswriter

    Monday Morning Sportswriter Well-Known Member

    "Hamilton elementary school teacher arrested for shoplifting"

    Nice, a potentially libelous head.

    Also: "However, combined with her husband's salary, the couple earned more than $150,000 last year, which makes the alleged theft a head-scratcher."

    So an editorial in the story, too. Beautiful.

    Journalism as only the Trentonian can do.
     
  10. dirtybird

    dirtybird Well-Known Member

    That is a metric shit ton of detail to not answer the basic question, what the fuck did she steal?
     
    sgreenwell, Big Circus and Batman like this.
  11. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member

  12. SnarkShark

    SnarkShark Well-Known Member

    The lead sucks.

    And what the fuck is this line?

    However, combined with her husband’s salary, the couple earned more than $150,000 last year, which makes the alleged theft a head-scratcher. (EDIT: MMS beat me to it)

    Also what value is there to publish the block she lives on? And I don't think an elementary school teacher is "something of a public figure."
     
    Last edited: Sep 23, 2017
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