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On Sunday, July 22, 2001, The Elkhart Truth, a small newspaper in Elkhart County, Indiana, published a list of legal gun permit holders on their web site. My curiosity was aroused by a letter from a concerned citizen and by a couple of posts on FreeRepublic.com. I wrote to Trevor Wendzonka, the reporter that had written a couple of related stories published along with the list. He referred me to Terry Greenberg, editor of The Truth. After a couple exchanges of e-mails, he consented to answer some questions that I had sent him. He was, I think, very generous with his time and quite straightforward. I present his answers just as he wrote them. Greenberg: We have had a small group of angry readers react to this and a larger group of concerned readers react and another group who want to know why the database isn't up anymore. That doesn't bother me. What has concerned me is the tone of the few feeding-frenzy comments we've seen from across the nation tied to FreeRepublic.com from people who don't know this paper and how it handles issues. They assume we're just part of the "media" they love to rip. I'm more than happy to talk to local people who are upset, but I'm not going to take a lot of time talking to people who don't live in our area and like to call me "asshole" (direct quote) without even knowing me.
Greenberg: We did a story about a local county commissioner who wore his gun on a holster in full view during meetings because he said he couldn't wear it on his ankle because of a temporary medical problem. We did a story about it because it also followed a strong disagreement he had with other county officials who were very concerned about their safety. This led to a walkout by county employees who say this commissioner created a hostile work environment. We covered all of this because it was news.* Now, this commissioner cannot stand us and thinks we are out to get him. I cannot control how he feels but I'm very comfortable that we have been fair to him. This whole thing led to a county law saying people cannot have guns in county buildings. This led to a discussion in the newsroom - how many people in Elkhart County have gun permits and why? Trevor Wendzonka did two stories that no one has complained about. But to get the info, we needed to get the database - a public record - from the Indiana State Police. We decided we could put it on our web site and let readers see who has guns besides public officials who were mentioned in one of the stories. From talks Trevor had with some sources, he felt there was a lot of interest. There was a lot of discussion on doing this and not everyone agreed, but since it was a public record we decided to post it. As with anything, I have the final call.
Greenberg: A number of people at The Truth own guns. I do not. But my sister owns a number of guns and a few years ago we even held her birthday party at a shooting range and had a great time. I had never shot weapons before and was impressed with how responsible people were at the range.
Greenberg: I have no problem with responsible people owning guns.
The first response was our web site hits went through the roof on Sunday and Monday. People were curious. Some told us they had wondered who had guns in their neighborhood and they could now find out. We provide information - that's what we do - and this was information. We got a few calls Monday (less than 10) and a few more on Tuesday. I talked to one man who wanted to know why we did this. I told him what I wrote above and he said how did I feel about letting criminals know where he lived so they could come and steal his weapons. I told him in 20-plus years of doing this, I've seen very few examples of where criminals read something in the paper and then run out and commit a crime. But after talking to 2 or 3 people, I realized even if they were just paranoid, the longer we left the list on the site, the more we would add to their concern. These were all very reasonable people. We had planned that the list would only be up for a short time, but had not defined that yet. So I decided - Tuesday morning - to pull the list. I'm not going to react to a small group of angry people. But I will react to a group of reasonable people who let me know how things affect them. So we yanked it. The people who wanted the information had time to see it and we never said it would be up for days, or weeks. But by pulling it, if criminals did get wise to the information, it would be gone before they got their act together. Now some people think five seconds was too long. Others have called since to ask why we took it down and are disappointed. We did pull addresses off the list, but people said all criminals had to do was look them up in the phone book. I understood their concern. If no one had responded, maybe we would have kept it up longer, but our original plan was to pull if after a short time. After we pulled it I became aware of posts on FreeRepublic.com that have demonized us. I'm very disappointed by the tone. I respect the rights of these people to own a gun and I assume they are responsible. It seems to most of them that not only are we wrong, but also we are the dumbest bunch of twits on the planet. It's hard for them to realize lots of people wanted to know this information just for their own use - not to attack them, steal their guns or demonize them. And it IS a public document. Another comment from local people is that we're treating them like criminals. Why don't we run sex offenders, one asked? We do run criminals every day in the paper - when arrested and convicted.** We don't do stories on gun owners when they get a permit as if it was a crime. We don't feel that way. It seems to me their own idea of motive. I can't control that either - but I'm not going to spend a lot of time answering those folks. I could give you a number of examples of how we've been sensitive to victims of crime and how we think through situations. We have ongoing discussions about ethics and I think we do a good job. Are we perfect? No. But who is? I'm also somewhat wary of people who like to second-guess what we do and are not sitting in our chair. But that goes along with the job. End of e-interview Closing Thoughts It is almost unthinkable to many of us that this could happen. The publication of "lists" just doesn't sit well with freedom-minded individuals. We worry about what the next list will be about and if we'll be on it. I say this as an "outsider" to Elkhart County's particular troubles. In the separate reality that is Elkhart County, the list publication calmed the hysteria for some. Nonetheless, this is a very interesting media event by which we all might be instructed. Editor's notes: *Before making any judgemental conclusions about the Elkhart Truth, go to their web site and do a search on McCloskey. From everything I have read so far (and there is a LOT to read), Elkhart County residents have suffered through a pot-boiler of political intrigue, infighting, paranoia, and tit-for-tat. At the center of this is county commissioner Marty McCloskey. Whether he is the cause of the trouble or the victim seems to depend on whom you ask. It seemed to me that the Elkhart Truth tried to be balanced in the letters to the editor that they published from his supporters and detractors. **Judging by the column on their web site, Sirens, the area is small-town enough to report every call the police and fire department respond to. This is not unusual for smaller newspaper. -Peacerose, 08/06/2001 When you feel your personal media bias tolerance gauge rising into the red zone, don't throw stuff at the TV screen! Send your suggestion to outrage@fairpress.org! Each week, one hideous example of media bias will be selected for closer examination. Hmmmmmm . . .
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