Several conversations I’ve been involved in over the past few weeks have taken the same direction — namely asking why The Daily Iberian publishes negative news. Concerned citizens are coming from a good place: they feel that New Iberia is poised on a fulcrum between positive growth and decay, and they believe we should be doing all we can do to swing public opinion to the positive side. I agree, but I also believe  the longing for positive growth does not remove the journalistic responsibility of watchdog reporting and simply enforcing your right to know.

I was asked why we report arrests. After all, an arrest is not the same as a conviction. My answer? You have the right to know who is getting arrested and why. Simply put, you have the right to know the depth of character of your neighbors. You have the right to know if there is a spike in property crime or an increase in heroin arrests. You have the right to know what your law enforcement agencies are doing to protect you

Journalists are supposed to evaluate news value by considering many different factors. News that people “need to know” should be more valuable than news that people “want to know.”  Immediacy is important — a pressing issue has more value because it is “news,” not “olds.”  Proximity is important, especially for a community newspaper. Issues affecting New Iberia are more important that issues affecting Baton Rouge. Significance is important, the more people affected the more an issue is newsworthy. For better or worse, prominence is important (something happening to a highly ranking official has more value that something happening to an Average Joe because more people know who the official is). Finally, human interest is important because stories that evoke emotion or are just entertaining will bring in more readers.

Responsible journalists also consider ethics, and this is especially important in crime reporting. Newspapers have a code of ethics or rely on industry standards such as the Society of Professional Journalists ethics code. These generally include provisions for minimizing harm. This, along with the potential for libel lawsuits, is why newspapers must be careful how they write about arrests.Each step along the process must be clearly explained. 

Being arrested is not the same as being charged. Neither is it the same as being convicted. But this does not mean that we should not report arrests. People have a right to know who is being detained by the government and what crimes they are accused of. This is a basic tenet of our founding documents. People also have a right to know what crimes are happening in their neighborhoods and whether anyone is being held responsible.

We believe  we have a duty to keep you informed, and we know that most of what we report would be left hidden if we did not cover it. This is our responsibility, but to celebrate this community is also vital to our mission. Later this month we will publish a special edition dedicated to local high school athletes. As I write this, we are busy planning our second “Best of the Teche” celebration of local businesses and professionals. We strive to balance the not-so-good with the good, the difficult with the celebratory, the negative and the affirmative.

CHRISTINA PIERCE is publisher of The Daily Iberian.