Kelley Report Offers Lessons for All Editors

By: Joe Strupp Several hundred of the nation's leading newspaper editors awoke here this morning to literally find bad news on their doorstep -- copies of this morning's USA Today with its shocking report on the probe into the Jack Kelley scandal. The editors are gathered for the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) meeting.

With the resignation this week of that paper's editor Karen Jurgenson -- which showed a new emphasis on the newsroom buck stopping in the top office -- some editors worried openly about what might happen to their jobs if they let standards slip.

But many saw a useful side to today's sordid details, as well.

"There are good lessons for editors," said David Yarnold, editor of the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News. "The mistake is to say this is an isolated incident. I would say that every top 20 paper has issues around a star system." He also cited "inadequate training for line editors and possibly a lack of clarity on standards."

Marty Baron, editor of The Boston Globe, said, "Editors bear responsibility for what's in their newspapers and if they are alerted to problems they have an obligation to pursue them." But the USA Today report seemed to suggest that a lot of the issues raised were "particular to USA Today," he added.

Carolina Garcia, executive editor of The Monterey County (Calif.) Herald, said "structure" was a key: "You need a top-to-bottom look at your structure to make sure what is in place. You better know what is there."

One issue highlighted by USA Today Publisher Craig Moon today concerned ending the policy of considering reporters "innocent until proven guilty" on ethics issues and instead starting from a more neutral position. "That's a tricky one," Baron commented. "You don't want to presume guilt, you do want to presume nothing -- and conduct a full investigation."

He added, "Be wary of a story that was too good to be true."

Yarnold said, "We need to trust reporters, they deserve to be trusted, but every story ought to be probed according to our standards."