The death of a soldier
Hometown decision for hometown hero
His family wanted him remembered as a war hero killed by the enemy. Was the real story worth the cost?
By Stan Welch
Long odds, lousy timing, and a serious error in judgment combined recently to cause me one of my worst moments as a newspaper editor.
First, the long odds. Less than 100 coalition troops were killed during the ground war with Iraq. Unbelievably, one of them, Kenneth Perry, was from Loris, the small town where I edit the weekly paper. Further stretching those odds is that Becky, my layout and design manager, is married to the dead man’s uncle.
Next came the lousy timing. The news of the death was received at the paper just two hours before our press time. There wasn’t enough time to gather any information beyond the simple fact that the man had been killed. Printing just that seemed senseless, so we held off. As editor of a weekly, I have learned to accept such cruelties of timing. All I can do in such a case is to be more thorough when my time comes; in effect, substituting depth for speed.
That was my intention when I went to visit the family the next afternoon. I decided early on that I would not rush anyone into talking. I knew the death was a shock and I had a week to get the story. So I sat on the porch and talked to Becky’s husband and other family members. It was a prototypical Southern scene, as people sat in the porch swing and on the front steps, talking about everything but the death that had caused them to gather.
After some time, I spoke with the sisters of Kenneth Perry. They gave me some very good background. We talked about his love of sports and dancing. I learned that he was a "sharp dresser" and something of a ladies’ man.
I also heard some news that really caught my ear. There were hints that Perry had been killed by friendly fire. Those hints became fact when another uncle told me, off the record, that Perry had been killed when he picked up an unexploded bomblet from a cluster bomb dropped earlier by an allied warplane. This uncle, as well as several others in the family, stressed to me that the distraught parents wanted nothing written about the way Perry was killed.
I was faced with a tough decision. Immediately upon his death Perry, and by extension his family, had become heroes in our small town. Any actions seen as denigrating that heroic status were certain to be viewed unkindly. The town had a new hero and would not easily surrender him.
Adding to my difficulty in deciding on what to print was the fact that the Army representatives on the scene refused to comment beyond the bare bones of the circumstances of Perry’s death time, location, unit identification. Other than that, they referred me back to the family, which refused to confirm the information for the record. The casualty assistance office at Ft. Jackson referred me to the Army representatives on the scene. I was handcuffed.
I discussed the problem with Becky, who was also getting a lot of pressure from her family. She told me that she understood my position, but that she was asking me not to pursue the question of how he died. "I have to live with the family when this is all over," she said.
My only comfort, I was told no one else would hear the story from the family either. That was important since media from all over both the Carolinas had descended on the town.
I chose to withhold the information. In effect, I had no choice since I could not corroborate the story. So I wrote a story about the young man’s life, blending what little information I had about his death.
Then came the funeral. It was a funeral like Loris has never seen, and surely will never see again. The casket was transported the mile from the funeral home to the church on a horse-drawn caisson accompanied by a full military honor guard. Behind the caisson walked a black riderless horse.
The family walked behind the horse as two thousand people lined the streets, and nearly as many media darted in and out taking pictures. At the graveside service, ceremonial flags were presented to the mother and two sisters as a lone bugler played "Taps." Once again, lousy timing plagued me, as the service was held on Wednesday, giving everyone else six days lead time before I could get into print.
That night, both CBS and CNN carried footage of the funeral. Time magazine had a photographer there. Local television stations for a hundred miles around ran stories.
The next day, at least a half dozen newspapers featured the story and, unbelievably, every one of them carried quotes from the family about how Perry died. Everything that I had been asked to withhold was now in print a week before I could do anything about it. I really felt like I had been had. I felt, and still do, that the family used their relationship with Becky, and hers with me, to get the boy buried before the truth came out.
I wrote a sparse, sedate account of the funeral and let it go at that. But I will never again let the emotions of a situation dictate my coverage of it. It really bothers me that faced with the decision, I chose hometown journalism over sound journalism. It reminds me of something my father used to say when he was faced with a tough decision. "It’s better to have other people mad at you than to be mad at yourself." I should have remembered that sooner.
Stan Welch is editor of The Loris (SC) Sentinel.
Source: FineLine: The Newsletter On Journalism Ethics, vol. 3, no. 4 (April 1991), p. 2.
This case was produced for FineLine, a publication of Billy Goat Strut Publishing, 600 East Main Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202. Reprinted with the permission of Billy Goat Strut Publishing. This case may be reproduced for classroom and research purposes. Publication of this case in electronic or printed form requires written permission from the publisher and Indiana University. An exception is granted for use in readers designed for specific academic courses.
February 27th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Never fear, everyone is selfish, no one cares about the young soldiers that die.I can see that you are worried about your small town paper.It does not matter how a soldier dies, he was willing to put his life on the line when he went there.I have the greatest respect for what you did.Doing what is right,is a lost art in this country.
March 10th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
You used good judgment. Just because a detail could be publicized, doesn’t mean it should. Every year, in peace and war, we lose pilots over the AZ, NV and CA deserts. Troops are injured and even lost in training before hearing the sound of the guns, and injured and lost to friendly fire in every army and navy in recorded history. But in today’s America, much of the citizenry knows no history, knows nothing of combat, and has no experience or value for personal sacrifice for anything, especially their country. Thank you for sparing this family and community, during their official memorial, from having the caisson or horse harrassed by Code Pink. This young man gave his life for America. That is all that matters during a funeral. In another context, friendly fire is a legitimate subject of discussion. At that time, it was not. You did the right thing.
March 26th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
You may feel that you missed your big chance to report a large and important story to your community by not having it in the paper. But it could be worse. I have also served as editor of a smalltown weekly in the state of Georgia. I can think of a number of times when an uncooberated story would have produced 10 times the headaches that solidly backed story with at least a couple of sources would have. You rightfully feel the obligation to put out the local news but you also have the responsability to back what is said. The national guys didn’t seem to have that aspect together. I commend you for not having told a story that could just as well have been the wrong story until you got all the particulars.
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:23 am
You as a journalist should not publish a report with out sufficient evidence. But at the same time other publications got this coverage done.i also don’t know weather it is ethically right or wrong, but if you want to be a proffessional you have to report such incidents irrespective of emotions
November 6th, 2008 at 9:37 am
I think it was a good thing to be considerate of the families feelings. You should always show compassion to the people affected in a certain situation. It was good that you went to the family first instead of publishing a story without ceonsent. Eventhough in the end they gave other reporters the information you wanted i think you did thr right thing.
May 16th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
I think this story about Kenneth Perry, was kind of interesting because it lets a reader know what really goes on in war. I think the part about the funeral was cool, because a lot of people showed up, I bet deep down he was very happy.
June 7th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
I know that the reporter regretted the way he handled the situation, but then again he is in a small town. They wanted to make a hero out of this young man. Had he taken that away from them, he and the rest of the newspaper might have experienced serious negative backlash from the community. His ethics were spot on, he didn’t run a juicy story without the consent of a grieving family.