The Eagle has landed and is being pelted with rocks

Sometimes anger gets the better of me. Such was the case today when I was reading the local rag online. Not the best newspaper on the planet but if you want to keep up on local news and the obligatory daily check of the obituary page your kind of stuck.

While I am a firm believer in the freedom of the press, like any other right we enjoy here in the greatest country on the planet that freedom comes with responsibility. And I feel comfortable in stating categorically that most papers and in particular the Home News and Tribune fall woefully short in the responsibility category.

As a cop I get really angry when I see a headline like Police Chief's Son Indicted or Paramedic accused of. I can understand that public officials are held to a higher standard. With the added responsibilities we enjoy we candidly enjoy privileges not afforded to the public at large. But when a public official, especially one of us in the uniformed services, gets lumped in to a headline because of something a spouse or errant offspring might have done I get really angry. To be fair, if I or any public servant is directly involved in something that might color my service in a negative light we should be fair game. But the free handed way in which marginal print outlets try to boost readership by creating a story that isn't there is galling. But like I said, it comes with the territory.

Today when reading the rag I saw a headline that blared "Former Eagle Scout pleads guilty in Sex Assault". Catchy isn't it. But when you read the article you find that his status as an Eagle Scout had nothing to do with the crime. Yet the irresponsible media takes the liberty of whipping out their paint brush and in the process of trying to generate interest in an otherwise marginal story smears an entire group of people.

I became an Eagle Scout in 1978. It was a great accomplishment then and for the kids attaining that rank now its an even bigger deal in a society that eschews the very things that Scouting stands for. It is something that some thirty years later I am still very proud of. For these hacks to obliquely besmirch an entire group of people is a great injustice.

Not all Eagle Scouts commit sexual assaults, not all Cops are mindless brutes with a penchant for violence and not every member of the clergy is a closet predator waiting to jump out of a tree on to an unsuspecting kid. To be fair, not all journalists are bottom dwelling creeps that profit from the misfortune of others. But this kind of irresponsibility carries with it the risk that the editors and staff of the Home News Tribune could be perceived as such.

Following is the letter I sent to their paper tonight. I am realistic to know that its impact on there practices will be nil but at least I was able to defend an institution I hold dear.

To the Editor:

While reading the online version of The Home News Tribune today I was alarmed to see the Headline “Former Eagle Scout pleads guilty in Morris Twp. Sex Assault case”. Curious as to how being an Eagle Scout had even the most remote relation to the facts at hand I read the piece thoroughly. As I suspected, there was no relevance to the inclusion of this fact. I would like to say I was surprised, sadly I was not. It is scandalous that a newspaper of supposed good repute would engage in an editorial practice that features salacious but irrelevant tidbits in an attempt to boost readership.

Clearly the man cited in the article committed a crime. He admitted his role and will face the consequences. Not one element of the story indicates that his attainment of the rank of Eagle Scout had anything to do with the incident. Yet his past accomplishment is displayed as a banner over his misdeeds as if to paint every Eagle Scout with the same broad brush.

The Home News Tribune has had a generous history of articles detailing the accomplishments of the Boy Scouts of America in general and Eagle Scouts in particular. It is sad that in this case of exceptionally poor editorial judgment those generous works have been erased. That’s the problem when you paint with a broad brush. Sometimes you get dirty yourself.