The Lexington Herald-Leader breaks policy and publishes a mugshot of a criminal suspect Could it be that because, once again, the accused is white rather than black?

by

We have previously noted the Lexington Herald-Leader’s double standards when it comes to posting the mugshots of criminal suspects. The Herald-Leader is supposed to follow McClatchy Company’s standards, as they are listed in the photo to the right.

THC snacks, sex acts: KY woman allegedly abused baby while video chatting with inmate

By Jeremy Chisenhall | May 20, 2021 | 8:15 AM EDT | Updated 12:55 PM EDT

A northern Kentucky woman is accused of letting her toddler eat marijuana snacks and performing sexual acts in front of the child while on video chat with her incarcerated boyfriend, according to the Boone County sheriff’s office.

Jessica Ahlbrand, 22, was arrested Wednesday after investigators reviewed multiple video chats between Ahlbrand and her boyfriend, who is an inmate at the Boone County Detention Center. During the video calls, Ahlbrand said she couldn’t find her marijuana “snacks” and allegedly suggested an 18-month-old child had eaten them.

She showed her boyfriend photos of the child who “appeared to be under the influence and incoherent,” according to the sheriff’s office. The two laughed at the photos.

During the same May 10 video call, Ahlbrand allegedly went into the baby’s room and performed sex acts on herself in front of the child, according to the sheriff’s office’s statement. Ahlbrand and her boyfriend had another video call on Saturday, during which she allegedly performed sex acts on herself in front of the child again.

Ahlbrand was charged with sexual abuse involving a victim under 12 and criminal abuse involving a victim under 12, according to jail records. She was taken to the Boone County Detention Center and held on a $250,000 bond.

Then, further down, the article has the following image from Facebook, complete with the mugshot of Miss Ahlbrand:[1]As of 9:57 PM EDT on Thursday, May 20, 2021, Miss Ahlbrand’s mugshot was still posted on the Herald-Leader’s website. Update! As of 7:05 AM EDT, on Friday, May 21, 2021, Miss … Continue reading

Now, I have to ask: under which of the three criteria listed in the McClatchy policy, was Miss Ahlbrand’s mugshot posted in the Herald-Leader:

  • Is there an urgent threat to the community?
  • Is this person a public official or the suspect in a hate crime?
  • Is this a serial killer suspect or a high-profile crime?

Miss Ahlbrand doesn’t appear to be an urgent threat to the community; her alleged crimes were of a personal nature, and there is nothing in either the Herald-Leader article or the BooneCounty Sheriff’s Department Facebook page to indicate that she has been released. The Sheriff’s Department stated that Miss Ahlbrand is “currently lodged at the Boone County Detention Center and is currently held on a $250,000 cash bond. That was posted at 7:18 PM on Wednesday, May 19th, so it is possible that she subsequently made bail.

Miss Ahlbrand is not a public official, nor charged with a hate crime.

Miss Ahlbrans is not a serial killer suspect, and, as far as a “high profile” crime is concerned, it sure doesn’t seem to be.

The McClatchy policy states that:

McClatchy will not publish crime mugshots — online or in print, from any newsroom or content-producing team — unless approved by an editor. To be clear, this means that in addition to photos accompanying text stories, McClatchy will not publish “Most wanted” or “Mugshot galleries” in slide-show, video or print.

Any exception to this policy must be approved by an editor.

I shall assume, therefore, that an editor approved it. According to the Herald-Leader, the article author, Jeremy Chisenhall, is a reporter, not an editor. That leaves:

  • Peter Baniak, Executive Editor and General Manager;
  • Deedra Lawhead, Deputy Editor, Digital;
  • Brian Simms, Deputy Editor, Presentation:, or
  • John Stamper, Deputy Editor, Accountability

to have approved the publication of Miss Ahlbrand’s mug shot.[2]I left out the two Sports Editors, whom, one would assume, wouldn’t be involved in this. Who did so, and why? Looking at the McClatchy criteria, I fail to see where Miss Ahlbrand fits.

Oh, but wait, I can see one way in which she fits.

Beyond the personal impact, inappropriate publication of mugshots disproportionately harms people of color and those with mental illness.

At least to judge by her photograph, Miss Ahlbrand is not a person of color, though it is at least arguable that the crime of which she is accused is indicative of mental illness.

Is that it? Is the Herald-Leader on some kind of crusade, conscious or otherwise, to publish the mugshots of white suspects, but not of non-whites? I do not know, because, brilliant as I am, I still cannot read other people’s minds. But make no mistake here: such is at least a reasonable conclusion based on the empirical evidence.

References

References
↑1 As of 9:57 PM EDT on Thursday, May 20, 2021, Miss Ahlbrand’s mugshot was still posted on the Herald-Leader’s website. Update! As of 7:05 AM EDT, on Friday, May 21, 2021, Miss Ahlbrand’s mugshot is still posted with the story. I had notified the Herald-Leader, the article author, Jeremy Chisenhall, and the Editor, Peter Baniak, via Twitter, of this inconsistency at 10:12 PM EDT on Thursday.
↑2 I left out the two Sports Editors, whom, one would assume, wouldn’t be involved in this.
Spread the love

9 thoughts on “The Lexington Herald-Leader breaks policy and publishes a mugshot of a criminal suspect Could it be that because, once again, the accused is white rather than black?”

  1. Despite notifying both Jeremy Chisenhall and Peter Baniak, again via Twitter, of their failure to follow policy, as of 9:40 AM EDT, Miss Ahlbrand’s mugshot is still available on the linked article.

    • But that’s just it: McClatchy’s policy is that no mugshots at all will be printed, unless specifically approved by an editor, and the editors were given the considerations that McClatchy’s corporate leadership believe are controlling. Miss Ahlbrand’s case fits none of them.

      The Herald-Leader’s staff are small, but it’s definitely the Editor and General Manager’s responsibility to implement McClatchy policies, and to instruct staff below him of what those policies are.

      And this has come up recently. On April 23rd, the H-L published the mugshot of a lowlife who tried to ‘lure’ a child for whatever reason. That mugshot was up for several days. Then, at some point between a week or so after publication, and May 16th, the mugshot was taken out of the story. Then, on May 20th they published another mugshot.

      Removing the mugshot published in April 23 is an editorial decision; the original reporter wouldn’t have done it. At that point, Peter Baniak, the Editor/GM would have informed the staff of what happened, and reiterated that the publishing of mugshots had to be approved by an editor. We can’t know which editor approved publishing the mugshot, or if the reporter did it on his own, but it’s obvious that the decision to publish it was reversed, and someone has the responsibility for that.

      It is difficult to believe that Jeremy Chisenhall, the reporter on the May 20th story, would not have known about the McClatchy policy if Mr Baniak or an assistant editor had pulled the April 23rd mugshot, especially in that I have been on this story for awhile now, and informed them via Twitter

      To believe that Mr Chisenhall would not have been aware of the policy and published the mugshot himself one must also believe that either Mr Chisenhall is dumb as a box of rocks, or that Mr Baniak didn’t reiterate the policy to the staff, or that Mr Chisenhall just flat ignored the memo.

      Someone had to have approved printing the mugshot, and, given that McClatchy spelled out exceptions an editor would have to consider if he wanted to publish, any editor with an IQ above room temperature would have known, and understood, that he was taking a consequential decision. To believe anything else is to believe that everyone in the newsroom is an idiot.

  6. As of 9:00 AM EDT on Saturday, May 29, 2021, Miss Ahlbrand’s photo is still up on the Herald-Leader’s website version of the article. Kind of makes me wonder why. After all, they eventually pulled down Mr Helton’s mugshot.

  7. Pingback: Journolism: Newspapers don’t think their readers can handle the truth! – THE FIRST STREET JOURNAL.

  8. Pingback: There’s that McClatchy policy again! – THE FIRST STREET JOURNAL.

Comments are closed.