We hate these stories as much as you do

Honestly, there are some weeks when the job is more fun than others.

This was not one of those weeks.

This week, we had a terrible story break: a trusted local businessman and community leader was being arrested and charged with rape of a teenage girl. It’s a charge that would be awful in any case, but it’s even worse given the circumstances of the accused running a business in which he deals with kids and teenagers on a regular basis.

I hate these stories. Believe it or not, I did not get into journalism to write these stories. These are the one you have to write, not the ones you want to write.

Yes, there is a certain amount of adrenaline and excitement when you are chasing down a story, especially one you know is going to generate a huge amount of discussion and traffic.

But that does not make it enjoyable.

I absolutely hate reading the charging papers in case like this. They’re just awful. They make the mind reel and the stomach turn.

Because believe me, what you see on our website and in print is only the top-level stuff. We read the whole collection of documents and all of the evidence presented and then we have to boil it down to what can be released and published in a newspaper.

And obviously, as stated (TWICE!) in the story, the suspect is innocent until proven guilty and until then, these are all allegations.

But the truth is, not only is this news, it is literally our job to get this information out.

Some of the comments I have seen and received seem to think that somehow we in the media are the ones making these accusations or that this is some sort of agenda on the part of the Renton Reporter. That’s just not true.

Read the story again. We make no accusations, no allegations. We are simply telling the public that there have been some pretty serious charges brought against a community figure known for working with children.

The police and prosecutors are making these accusations. The victims brought forth these allegations. Not us. We don’t have a dog in this show.

Personally, I would be happier NOT to run stories about child molesters because that would mean there are no child molesters. There really is no better way to ruin a Friday afternoon than to have to read through these charging papers.

And yes, we did make a clarification on our piece after we saw how it was being portrayed in the comments. Because we recognize just how sensitive an issue this is and because unless you read past the second paragraph – and you’d be surprised how many people don’t – you may have missed the details.

Our initial reporting – that according to court documents, the suspect admitted to police that he sent naked pictures of himself — is 100 percent accurate.

Here are the sections of the documents from which that sentence was drawn: The prosecuting attorney’s case summary states, “The defendant took naked photos of himself and sent them to a number of his students. The defendant admitted to police that he did send the photos. It is unclear how many students received those photographs.”

Later in probable cause documents from the King County Sheriff’s Office, the detective states, “I explained that I was pursuing a search warrant from Snapchat for the messages and asked if I would find any in which he was nude with just a caption covering his penis. He then stated there might be one in which he was not wearing shorts but that he took all the pictures in his bathroom and the sink would have blocked his genitals regardless. He denied any sexual intent.”

So yes, you can see the court documents very clearly say that he admitted sending naked pictures.

However, I changed the line in the story and included the clarification because there was more nuance to exactly what was said than what was included in the initial update Friday afternoon following the release of the charging papers.

We also made the decision to release the suspect’s name when he was arrested, instead of waiting for charges to be filed, as is our usual move and also what was done by at least one other media site in the area.

Believe it or not, we had a discussion about just this in the newsroom. And as editor, I made the call to release his name.

I did it for three reasons: the first, simply enough, is that it was being released the next day anyway when charges were filed. Second, I made the determination that the suspect – who appeared in our paper celebrating his business’s anniversary just two months ago – was a Public Figure.

Traditionally, a Public Figure is an elected official or someone on the public payroll, such as a department head or police officer a teacher. Celebrities are also public figures.

Though not nationally known, I determined that in this case, the suspect was at least well known enough in Renton to be considered a public figure, especially when coupled with his position as a teacher at a martial arts school.

Which brings me to the final reason I opted to release the name: Public safety.

The press release sent by police specifically asked for anyone with any information and/or any other victims to contact the police. The charging papers label him as “a severe danger to the community and other children” with “unbridled access to children, especially girls.”

But it would be impossible to get that information out, search for other victims and/or warn parents about the possibility that the guy teaching their kids martial arts is considered by police to be “a severe danger” without announcing his name.

And again, that is not me or the newspaper saying that, it is the prosecutor and the police. We are just the messenger.

Trust me, I would like nothing more than to run a 40-point “INNOCENT!” headline on this one following a trial – and we will if that’s the verdict, don’t you worry – but until then we will continue to cover this as the major news story it is.

And again, as we do, please try to keep in mind that we are not making these allegations and we are not trying to destroy anyone’s life. We are simply here reporting what the police and prosecutors are telling us and what the public documents say.

We do recognize that this is a real person with a real family and that just the allegations of something like this alone can be enough to destroy a reputation and business. We do not publish these stories lightly and we certainly do not publish the names of those arrested but not charged unless there is a direct public benefit or need to do so.