One of the decisions we must make multiple times daily is whether something warrants a news story or not. Very rarely is it a black-and-white call.
A few weeks ago, the Times ran a letter to the editor from Anna Anderson, a Monroe resident who is executive director of Care Net Pregnancy Center of Green County. Anderson claimed that some Monroe High School girls had aborted their babies by drinking a medication meant to induce abortions in cows.
Girls (and obviously their babies) are going to be dying because of this, Anderson wrote.
The Times held off on printing the letter initially, to determine whether there was a news story to write, and to answer the question of whether this was simply an urban legend.
Our reporters contacted Monroe school district officials, who said they were unaware of incidents like Anderson was claiming. The Green County Health Department had heard of Andersons claims and were checking them out, but couldnt verify them. Wed heard enough to determine it wasnt necessarily an urban legend, but didnt find anywhere close to enough evidence to publish it as a news story. There wasnt anything else verifiable other than that Anderson was making claims.
So we published the letter Feb. 6, allowing Anderson to alert parents (and students) to a potentially dangerous situation. There were, of course, a handful of people who were critical that simply printing the letter would tempt teens to try the drug. Like I said, there are few black-and-white calls in this business.
Andersons letter later was published in the Freeport (Ill.) newspaper, and sparked similar conversation there.
Then last week, I was forwarded a link to the World Net Daily Web site, which had a story about Andersons claims. And on Friday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a story entitled Reports surface that teens are taking cow drugs for abortion.
The J-S story said professionals in animal and human health and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction are treating the reports ... as rumors, because no cases have been officially confirmed by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. The story also said that a casual survey of large hospitals around Madison and other rural south-central Wisconsin communities did not reveal any reports of young female patients who had been treated for ingesting livestock drugs.
Officials, the J-S said, were dubious.
Its disturbing if its true, said Pat Else, vice president of development and communication at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.
So it doesnt appear at this point that theres still much more to report than that the claims have been made and officials are checking into their validity.
Is it a story or not? What do you think?
A few weeks ago, the Times ran a letter to the editor from Anna Anderson, a Monroe resident who is executive director of Care Net Pregnancy Center of Green County. Anderson claimed that some Monroe High School girls had aborted their babies by drinking a medication meant to induce abortions in cows.
Girls (and obviously their babies) are going to be dying because of this, Anderson wrote.
The Times held off on printing the letter initially, to determine whether there was a news story to write, and to answer the question of whether this was simply an urban legend.
Our reporters contacted Monroe school district officials, who said they were unaware of incidents like Anderson was claiming. The Green County Health Department had heard of Andersons claims and were checking them out, but couldnt verify them. Wed heard enough to determine it wasnt necessarily an urban legend, but didnt find anywhere close to enough evidence to publish it as a news story. There wasnt anything else verifiable other than that Anderson was making claims.
So we published the letter Feb. 6, allowing Anderson to alert parents (and students) to a potentially dangerous situation. There were, of course, a handful of people who were critical that simply printing the letter would tempt teens to try the drug. Like I said, there are few black-and-white calls in this business.
Andersons letter later was published in the Freeport (Ill.) newspaper, and sparked similar conversation there.
Then last week, I was forwarded a link to the World Net Daily Web site, which had a story about Andersons claims. And on Friday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a story entitled Reports surface that teens are taking cow drugs for abortion.
The J-S story said professionals in animal and human health and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction are treating the reports ... as rumors, because no cases have been officially confirmed by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. The story also said that a casual survey of large hospitals around Madison and other rural south-central Wisconsin communities did not reveal any reports of young female patients who had been treated for ingesting livestock drugs.
Officials, the J-S said, were dubious.
Its disturbing if its true, said Pat Else, vice president of development and communication at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.
So it doesnt appear at this point that theres still much more to report than that the claims have been made and officials are checking into their validity.
Is it a story or not? What do you think?
