The method behind the madness

Here are my responses to the questions about why certain info was used or omitted from the story. While interviewing with the Desert Dispatch editor I asked him what he thought about my story. "I liked your style," he said, but raised concern about the fact that I included a paraphrased statement about "criminal activity." He said, however that I couched it pretty carefully and it would probably have been safe, but it's one of those things that wouldn't have made it passed an editor. Anyway...

1. What information is missing in your news-gathering that could have made the story more complete?

There are several pieces of information that leave the newsgathering for this story incomplete. First, I need the official coroner’s report stating the cause of death. Next, I want to know why Martha did not call 911. I’m also curious about the smoke detectors – were they purposefully disabled? Tampered with? Did they malfunction?

If the police proceeded to sweep the house after the fire was contained, I would want to know if they found anything out of the ordinary, especially in the bedroom where the fire supposedly started. It seems like determining how the fire started will answer several questions in this case.

I would also want to know on what basis the neighbor, Jeanine Jordan, makes accusations that Jason Blevins uses or possesses meth. This would also require learning more about Jeanine and what kind of history she has with the Blevins (because she clearly has strong feelings towards Jason).

A big looming question, and perhaps the most difficult to determine, is whether the delayed emergency response contributed to Martha Blevins’ death. This would require information from several parties – from doctors and paramedics who could determine Martha’s condition at various times during the incident, from the fire department on how long responses usually take, and from city officials who had been made aware that train crossings were impacting emergency responses to that particular neighborhood.

Lastly, I want to fill in the gaps regarding Jason Blevins. Does he have a criminal record? Why was he with his father that day? Why have both he and his father been unreachable immediately following the incident?

2. What info did you decide not to use and why?

I chose to not include Jeanine Jordan’s quotes that placed blame on Jason Blevins and accused him of using and possessing meth. These are criminal accusations that are potentially libelous. The accusations have not yet been proven true by either police statements or documents, and the accused person has not yet had the opportunity to respond to the statements. Further these statements were made during a crisis situation while Jeanine was likely highly upset and distressed. Jason is also a minor and deserves, I feel, a certain level of protection.

Also, I did not include what Lt. James Henderson stated about not finding any signs of a drug lab in Jason’s room in the past. Although this is a statement from an official, including it in the story without any other information on whether Jason had a criminal record could imply that Jason did, which could be interpreted as libelous. However, I think this statement would be appropriate to use in a future story after investigation confirms Jason’s record.

There were smaller details that I chose not to include, such as the fact that the Jeanine Jordan mistakenly gave police the wrong address because it did not add significant information to the story.

3. Your editor tells you to follow up on the story tomorrow for the following day’s newspaper. What possible angles could you take and whom would you need to contact for the story?

There are many angles to pursue for a follow-up story the next day. The most natural follow-up to the previous story would be to investigate what caused the fire. I would talk to police and other investigators who swept the house after fire was contained and see f they had learned anything new. This would also require further reporting on why Martha did not call 911 by talking to her neighbors and tracking down family members to learn more about Martha and any reason why she might have avoided seeking help. Also wrapped up in this follow-up story would be to explore the meth accusations. This would require asking police if they found any drugs in the house after the fire and going to the police station and reviewing Jason’s record to see if he has a drug-related criminal past.

Another approach would be to see how many emergency responses have been delayed by train crossings in that neighborhood in the past year. This would require contacting the police and fire departments and seeing how many ambulances, fire trucks or police cars were held up at trains during the past year and how much time it added to their normal response time. More importantly, however, would be to investigate how the delay impacted the emergencies – whether criminals got away, medical conditions worsened, or how many people perhaps even died.