Our community witnessed an almost unspeakable tragedy early last week. First and foremost was the loss of a beautiful 13-year-old girl, Savannah Gatchell, her promising young life cut short much too soon. To her family and friends, our sincerest condolences.
The 16-year-old driver in the crash that caused her death faces serious criminal charges, yet his family and friends are grieving deeply, too. The pain is widespread, and the healing process will surely be long and arduous for all concerned.
Our thoughts are also with the first responders and grief counselors who rose to the challenge when called upon and did so under the toughest of circumstances. You have our profound thanks.
In the immediate aftermath, the Current drew criticism from some quarters for not publishing the driver’s name. The argument seemed to be along the lines of, “everyone knows his identity, why hide it?” And that raises valid questions about standards and news judgment, both ours and others.
In response to one critic, Consulting Editor Kris Olson explained our reasoning. With minimal editing, we’d like to share his response with our readers:
These are not easy decisions. We try to be principled, even when a particular choice would feed some people’s need for vengeance, or to bring shame on people. That’s perfectly understandable, especially with respect to Savanah’s family, given their unfathomable loss.
A main factor here is that the driver has been charged as a juvenile. Generally speaking, juvenile proceedings are private, unless and until a juvenile is charged as a “youthful offender.” To do so, the DA’s Office would have to seek an indictment from a grand jury, a process that could take weeks.
In its reporting, the Current has repeatedly reached out to attorneys and the DA’s Office to be absolutely sure we understood the process because it was initially surprising to us that a juvenile could be charged with causing another person’s death and not be publicly named. But we have been assured that’s how the process is designed to work.
Another key concept in journalism is attribution. When you present something as fact, you have to tell people where that fact came from, so they can assess its credibility. At a minimum, you would have to do what any responsible news outlet would do, which is to confirm the name from multiple authoritative sources.
A lot of people think they know the driver’s identity, and they may well be right. But news outlets must have higher standards. God forbid you ever *misidentified* a 16-year-old involved in a fatal crash. You would be sued out of existence.
It’s not just the Current, either. No other outlet we’re aware of has identified the driver.
Even if you could “report out” the driver’s identity (i.e., get confirmation from multiple authoritative sources), there is a separate but related ethical question as to whether that’s a project you should even embark on. It would mean investing time and resources in unmasking a juvenile the court system has said should not be unmasked. In the court’s estimation, juveniles (again, unless charged as “youthful offenders”) are entitled to that privacy, no matter who they are or may be related to.
Now, a news outlet could certainly violate that rule. But it should be very comfortable with its reasons for doing so. At this moment, we are not. Even so, we are continually reassessing that judgment.
We understand the desire to have the driver’s name be made public. Also, as any journalist would be, we are not entirely comfortable that there are some people who are “in the know” and some in the dark. Still, we are trying to be thoughtful, sensitive, and respectful to all these considerations and make the best decisions we can.
This was Kris’s summation of the Current’s position. We as an editorial board concur, even as our community continues to ask tough questions in mourning a tragic loss.
The Current Editorial Board
The members of the Current’seditorial board are Bob Peck, chairman of the Current; Virginia Buckingham, president of the Current's board of directors; board member Brian Birke, Current editorial staff member Kris Olson, and Joseph P. Kahn, a retired Boston Globe journalist.
