http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/527696.html
Published: Jan 02, 2007 12:30 AM
Modified: Jan 02, 2007 02:31 AM
Nifong to take oath as Durham DA
From Staff Reports
DURHAM - Embattled prosecutor Mike Nifong is set to be sworn in as Durham's district attorney this morning.
Nifong, a career prosecutor who kept a low profile for the first 27 years of his career in Durham, is now nationally known for his involvement in the sexual assault case against three former Duke University lacrosse players. The players deny the accusations that they assaulted an escort service dancer at a party.
Nifong was accused last week of ethics violations by the State Bar for his early public statements about the case. The agency regulates and licenses lawyers.
Nifong was elected to a four-year term in November in a contentious election that focused heavily on the lacrosse case. Nifong is scheduled to be sworn in at 8 a.m. at the Durham County Courthouse.
http://carolinajournal.com/articles/displa...ry.html?id=3798
Media Mangle
Bad Journalism and Forgiveness
Poor early performance of N&O not erased by good reporting later
By Jon Ham
January 01, 2007
As I've written before, Ruth Sheehan, the gender columnist for The News & Observer, was one of the worst offenders in the bad-journalism sweepstakes that occurred last March when news of the Duke lacrosse rape allegations became public. Her "We know you know" (I cringe as I write the words) column was possibly the lowest journalistic point in this whole affair, as it bought hook, line and sinker the improbable story line that Durham DA Mike Nifong and the exotic dancer/student/mother/saint accuser peddled.
As the realization that the original story was bunk began to dawn on Sheehan and the editors at The N&O they began backing off and trying to recast themselves as defenders of due process, the Constitution and the American Way. I say bunk. They were only trying to save themselves embarrassment. Some bloggers, notably KC Johnson of Durham In Wonderland and the LieStoppers blog, have excused The N&O.
A notable exception is columnist William L. Anderson. He didn't buy the Sheehan turnaround in August, when he wrote:
Let’s face it; you wanted those accusations to be true, because they fit the leftist political viewpoint that dominates your newspaper. In early stories, reporters referred to the accuser as the "victim," not the "alleged victim" which is supposed to be the journalistic standard for these kinds of stories.
Like Anderson, I can't, and won't, forgive Sheehan, The N&O or The Herald-Sun for their pandering to political correctness, just as I can't forgive the newspapers that went with the flow early in the civil rights movement while a few brave ones took the dangerous and unpopular course of defending civil rights. They may have come around later, but the stink of journalistic cowardice will always be with them.
Today, in her latest column, Sheehan tries to move further away from her original reporting. While she calls herself "naive" for believing the early story, she doesn't apologize for her damaging dispatches. In fact, she proudly defends here irresponsible journalism:
I was one of the hopelessly naive who fell — hard — for Nifong's original depiction of the case.
In statements the State Bar now says violated ethics rules, Nifong described in detail the horrors of the alleged gang rape, including an attempted strangulation and racial insults.
Like others, I was outraged. And I wrote about it. I make no apology for that. It is not my job to wait for cases to be resolved and then walk through the aftermath and shoot the dead.
She defines her job in the negative, but what IS her job? Is it to believe all charges brought by prosecutors, or only those brought against those she despises (meaning those she views as privileged? Did her acknowledged date-rape incident more than 20 years ago prejudice her and affect her writing? Why was she outraged? Outrage shows she had already convicted the players in her mind.
Is that what she thinks her job is? She says it's not her job "to wait for cases to be resolved" before flying off half-cocked. If that's what her editors deem her job to be, then her 2006 performance evaluation must have been stellar. And does it bother anyone that one of the state's major papers is employing someone as a local columnist who is hopelessly naive? Columnists are supposed to be experienced enough in life to give us insights that we might not have ourselves. Naivete is not among the skill sets I used to look for when I was hiring columnists.
I admit I have a bias in this too. All my kids played lacrosse and I go to almost every Duke home lacrosse game. But when I first learned of the rape allegations (at a lacrosse game, as it happened) my first reaction was, "Well, it sounds bad, but let's see what happens. We don't know the whole story." Maybe my pro-lacrosse bias prompted that reaction, but, all in all, I think mine was the more measured, responsible and professional. If The N&O, its editor Melanie Sill, its columnists and even its reporters had taken that approach early on, I'd have more respect for them than I do now.