Crime stories, you and Kent – Editor’s Note

If you’ve been watching our front page recently (or our inside pages, too, for that matter) you may be amazed at the volume of crime stories we’ve been covering.

In our Jan. 23 edition alone, we have a front-page story that is a follow-up to the Jan. 15 East Hill shooting, as well as most of page 8 devoted to the bad choices and mishaps of people in our area.

Contrary to what you may think, I don’t relish all this bad news. I live here, just like most of you, and these are things that are affecting me, too (including getting a phone call last week from my daughter to tell me her school had been in lockdown.)

If an inspirational story about a Kent resident reflects the good things about this city (and there are many good things), crime stories reflect some of the worst aspects of Kent. And for that, I suspect, some readers may find themselves banging the old drum: newspapers don’t do anything but report bad news.

Yep, I’ve heard this for years, and at the numerous papers where I’ve worked.

But I want to assure you that is far from the truth. I don’t relish putting bleeding headlines on my front page. This is my community, and you are my neighbors.

But on the other hand, I would feel far worse if we simply turned a blind eye to these stories, or attempted to downplay them.

Newspapers have a function in society, and that is to reflect back to their readers, as much as is possible, the truth about where they live and what they do.

For every person who feels we’ve ruined their day by describing some especially seedy crime committed in their town, there is the person who is glad to know why a street got shut down in the middle of rush hour (Kent-Kangley Road during the Jan. 15 shooting), or what that brawl they saw in a business parking lot resulted in.

If there is some level of comfort we can draw from these stories, it is that our police force is doing its job, working with crime victims and nabbing alleged perpetrators. Our courts are working to process these people. And those are stories that we are covering, too.

It’s often said that newspapers start covering things when they don’t go right – that dysfunction is how we earn our bread and butter.

But you can choose to see this in a different light: newspapers are there to cast a light on the nuts-and-bolts processes that make our society work. In this case, you are seeing crime stories about courts that are working; about defendants who are getting their day in court, about police who are working diligently to ensure our safety.

Granted, the details of what these entities are working on can be less appetizing – crime details are rarely pleasant – but in my experience it is far better to offer the truth about something, than to patronize by softening the blow, or pretending something does not exist.

But you can also rest assured the Kent Reporter will be here, covering the inspirational stories about Kent, too. We are here for you, and we’re your neighbors too.