The reasoning behind the football player story

I’ve received a couple of calls from readers who were upset (mildly put) that we published the story about the Gaffney High School football player who was charged with simple possession of marijuana.

“Why do you want to ruin that young man’s life?” “That makes Gaffney and Gaffney High School look bad!” “Why did you put it on the front page?”

“Why did you print his picture?” “Why didn’t you print the names of the others who were charged, especially the one who was charged with second offense simple possession?”

The reporter who wrote the story has also been berated by a few readers as well as our sports editor, who wasn’t involved in the writing of the story or the decision to publish it.

From time to time I use this space to tell how and why I make decisions on which stories get published and which ones do not.

This is one of those times.

In most cases, Ledger editor Klonie Jordan makes story assignments and decides on their placement. In some cases, he and I confer. In this case, Klonie was out of the office on the day we found out about the story, so the decision to publish it was mine and mine alone.

Our policy is that we do not publish the names of those charged with first offense simple possession of marijuana unless there are extenuating circumstances.

The extenuating circumstance in this case was that this was the third Gaffney High football player arrested within the past month. Granted, the first two arrested face more serious charges, but I felt, and still do, that a third player being arrested was most certainly newsworthy.

Let’s face it. Gaffney High School football and anything connected to it is BIG news in Gaffney.

I followed our policy in not publishing the names of the others charged with simple possession. Their names were not pertinent to the story.

One of them, however, faces a charge of simple possession, second offense. Our policy states that we will publish those names. We erred in not doing so. That has been corrected with that information contained in today’s police report.

A photo of the football player was used because pictures help identify the person being written about. It is a common practice at this newspaper and all others I’ve ever seen.

The story was on the front page because I felt it was an important story.

Teenager charged with simple possession: no story.

GHS football player charged with simple possession: maybe a story.

Third GHS football player arrested: FRONT PAGE.

One of our reasons for existing is to record the history of Cherokee County — births, deaths, weddings, birthdays, honor rolls, governmental decisions, business happenings, and yes, even bad things like crime.

The extent to which any of those things ranks as interesting to the majority of our readers helps determine how much ‘play’ it gets.

I understand readers at times will question why one story was on the front page and another ‘buried’ in the back. We have disagreements on our own staff about story placement on a regular basis.

I agree that this news is another black eye for Gaffney and Gaffney High. But it’s no worse than what happens at most other schools and cities and not nearly as bad as some.

But should this newspaper shoulder the blame for it?

Perhaps, but only if you blame a mirror for the image it reflects.

Blemish or perfection, a mirror shows it.

Good news or bad, we publish it.

I take no joy in publishing news that is hurtful to others or the community in which I live, but my father made it clear to me from the day I joined him in this business that newspaper publishers who do their job will win few popularity contests.

And he shared some advice with me his dad often gave him from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “There will always be people who disagree and question your motives, but remember:

‘This above all: to thine ownself be true, And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.’” (Cody Sossamon is publisher of The Gaffney Ledger. You can contact him via e-mail at cody@gaffneyledger.com)