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Oregonian taking a lot of heat from readers for this one. What do you think?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by zachpm, Jun 8, 2017.

  1. UPChip

    UPChip Well-Known Member

    I imagine it's more routine when your newsroom got scooped for a Pulitzer by an alt-weekly that has brought down a mayor, a senator and a governor.

    Thanks for the good discussion to all. One of the more engaging ones I've seen around here in some time, so kudos.

    I think Doc has it right that the timing looks very sensationalistic, and if Corvallis is anything like the small college town I worked in for seven years, that athletic department is probably going to take it out on the Oregonian for years (though the Beavers won their Super Regional anyway). That said, Johnny hit in on the head, I think. No news organization can sit on 'SECRET REGISTERED CHILD SEX OFFENDER' for purposes of a game and retain much credibility with the public. That's not necessarily an indictment of the organization, but it speaks to the previously mentioned phenomenon. Even though the fine print says Heimlich is unlikely to reoffend, in the 21st century, that's a hell of a scarlet letter.
     
  2. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    I'm uncomfortably sympathetic to sex offenders. First of all, I think most of them probably suffer from some sort of torturous mental illness. Second of all, newspapers in particular have long been on somewhat of a witch hunt where this is concerned, doing things like publishing the names and addresses of registered sex offenders. It's in the name of public service, ostensibly, but, in reality: (1) It's easy; and (2) It's sensational; and (3) The judgmental, moralizing public lauds you for it.

    All of that said, I think that the proper justification in proceeding to publish is probably similar to the justification in the "Spotlight" case - shining a light on a systemic institutional issue. In this case, the institution is either Oregon State University or simply big-time college athletics writ large. It's pretty different, of course, because Oregon State isn't giving its players access to fresh batches of new kids year after year. But when you are exposing an institution's practices, that elevates the newsworthiness exponentially.

    As is the case in all stories like this, though, where one person is used to highlight a bigger problem (for example, there has been a recent spate of police releasing photos of addicts passed out in their cars with children in tow as a shaming technique), I feel really bad for Heimlich here.

    If it wasn't the Oregonian, though, surely a major metro or one of the baseball sites was going to come upon this eventually by conducting a simple background check, and the Oregonian was going to look awful in the process if it had never brought it to light.
     
  3. dixiehack

    dixiehack Well-Known Member

    What is unclear to me is whether this would have turned up if the school ran a background check during recruiting. From my understanding, he only popped up on the radar because he didn't register as an adult.
     
  4. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member

    Like I said before, newspapers don't spend money any more. They find ways to cut spending. This ain't 1990.
     
  5. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    I tend to have the most sympathy for people who commit crimes that I could not fathom wanting to commit. This is oversimplified, because I recognize there are sometimes mitigating circumstances: Bank robbers? No sympathy. I'd like that damn money, too. Murderers or even assaulters? Not much sympathy. I, too, have wanted to open a can of whoop ass on someone. But I'm a human with self-control. Rape? I like sex as much as the next guy. But no means no.

    But child molesters? That is not a compulsion I can comprehend. I guess the moral lapse is acting on the impulse when surely one must realize that it's wrong and there is a victim. But I have sympathy for the person who has somehow acquired such a destructive, disgusting desire in the first place.
     
  6. murphyc

    murphyc Well-Known Member

  7. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    That's kind of a cop out. If he wasn't pitching for a top college team, this never would have been revealed. Read a report that some pro teams were aware of it ahead of time and dropped him from their boards.

    I guess it is different with scholarship athletes - and should be. My big question is how schools and media outlets should handle juvenile offenders. I have no idea. Apparently the school's hands are tied due to "confidentiality" rules. I'm guessing some language is going to be introduced into LOIs or other paperwork to protect schools in the future.
     
  8. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member


    Would it be OK for him to play in the orchestra? What about the chess team? Can he join the theater? What majors are open to him? What if Luke Heimlich wanted to be an astronaut? They're more famous than college baseball players. Yay or nay?

    This is Joe Mixon all over again.
     
    SnarkShark likes this.
  9. JohnHammond

    JohnHammond Well-Known Member

    Imagine the social media backlash if newspapers started digging into the background of Broadway actors.
     
  10. hondo

    hondo Well-Known Member

    People don't buy tickets to watch the chess team. Their matches aren't on ESPN.
     
  11. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Can he be an astronaut?
     
  12. micropolitan guy

    micropolitan guy Well-Known Member

    Pretty reasoned story from the Portland Tribune, in contrast to the daily ranting of Canzano, who has gone off the deep end on this one like a mangy dog sikking his teeth into a piece of raw meat because he hasn't eaten in a week.

    A look at some issues involving Luke Heimlich

    This whole thing is the offshoot of a nasty divorce within the family, involving an older sibling. I heard today that when originally charged, he denied this ever happened and passed two lie detector tests, but agreed to take a plea on the lowest possible charge because his attorney advised the family this was the only way it would ever go away. True? Who knows.

    The Register-Guard column is bad. Writers should take the time to learn Washington state juvenile law if they are going to write about it. No one is "convicted" as a juvenile, this case never went to trial. The cases are adjudicated by a judge, who determines the punishment, which he fulfilled. And he was not required to re-register in the state of Oregon once he originally did so; shoddy police work by a local cop ignorant of the law brought this to light.
     
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2017
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