This site has recently reported on the problems print newspapers, which are, in the end, simply updated 18th century technology, competing in the 21st century. We have noted how the Lexington Herald-Leader, once two newspapers, morning and afternoon, produced newspapers distributed widely over most of central and eastern Kentucky, is now being reduced to three print editions a week, to be delivered by mail.
Well, perhaps censoring the news isn’t the best way to build up your brand!
Fayette County school maintenance worker faces multiple child pornography charges
by Karla Ward and Valarie Honeycutt Spears | Tuesday, June 4, 2024 | 7:20 PM EDT
James Asher, photo by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record.
A man who works as a Fayette County Public Schools maintenance worker was arrested Monday on multiple charges related to child pornography, according to a Lexington police citation filed in Fayette District Court.
James Asher, 42, has been on administrative leave from Fayette schools since January, when officials learned of an investigation involving him, said Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Demetrus Liggins. He said officials do not think the allegations are related to Asher’s work with the district.
“Although we are unable to share many details, I want to assure our families, staff, and community that swift and appropriate action has been taken to ensure the safety of our students,” Liggins told the Herald-Leader Tuesday night in a statement. “Until an arrest was made we were unable to communicate about this situation with constituents. However, we can now share that an external law enforcement agency made us aware of this investigation in January. We immediately placed the maintenance worker on administrative leave and he has not returned to work. At this time, we have no reason to believe the allegations in this case took place on any of our campuses or that they were linked to his employment.”
As is always the case, the mugshot of the accused was not included in the article; what my best friend used to call the Herald-Liberal instead used a stock image of handcuff and a fingerprint blotter, complete with a wholly unrelated caption, from the Miami Herald, because someone was too inattentive to edit out the caption; you can see a screen capture, taken at 7:58 AM EDT this morning, of the image and caption here.
We have, of course, mentioned the oh-so-well-intentioned McClatchy Mugshot Policy[1]McClatchy Mugshot Policy: Publishing mugshots of arrestees has been shown to have lasting effects on both the people photographed and marginalized communities. The permanence of the internet can mean … Continue reading around fifty times, which prohibits the publication of mugshots unless there is a clear reason to do so, but if a Herald-leader reader did want to see what a local sex offender looked like — and he had been an employee of the Fayette County Public Schools, so a parent might be very concerned that his child was a potential victim — all that he would have to do is check the local television stations: WLEX-TV, Fox56, and WKYT-TV all had Mr Asher’s mugshot posted online.
An obvious question: why would a struggling newspaper want to push readers to check other local media sources for information that the newspaper declined to publish? How does that help save the Herald-Leader?
Asher is charged with 25 counts of possessing matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor under 12, one count of distribution of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor under 12, one count of possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor between 12 and 18, possession of marijuana and buy/possession of drug paraphernalia, according to court records. . . .
Asher used “an online peer to peer network” to distribute at least one file, the citation alleged, downloading and uploading an explicit picture of “children.”
Richard A Green, the Executive Editor of the newspaper, wrote in his article telling us about the change in the print publication schedule, stated:
Those three print editions each week will be jam-packed with consequential content even as our newsroom has become more digitally focused.
We’re doubling down on delivering essential local and statewide stories, but readers of Kentucky.com or our new morning digital Edition will see our best work before our print readers.
Changes in our print cycle will not deter my pledge that the Herald-Leader will be the best newsroom in Kentucky and one of the best of its size in the country.
Mr Green, whom I have met briefly, noted that “the majority of readers of local daily newspapers now access them digitally,” as I do since I cannot get the dead trees edition delivered to my home out in the boondocks, has, in effect, said that the readership is already reading online, which simply makes it easier for them to do a quick Google search, in this case for james asher lexington ky, and see the mugshot that the newspaper declined to print. The newspaper’s readers are already there, already easily able to be sent to another source!
I get it: Mr Green has to answer to his superiors, and cannot just dismiss the companywide McClatchy Mugshot Policy, something promulgated by the Sacramento Bee in hard-left California, which just happens to have the same address as McClatchy’s headquarters. California journolism[2]This was not a typograpical error: the spelling ‘journolist’ or ‘journolism’ comes from JournoList, an email list of 400 influential and politically liberal journalists, the exposure … Continue reading standards imposed on a local central and eastern Kentucky newspaper might not be the best way for that Kentucky newspaper to grow its subscriber base!
WLEX-TV and WKYT-TV and Fox56 are all freely available, not only on people’s television sets, but online as well; there are no paywalls blocking access. The Herald-Leader does have a paywall, which kicks in after you’ve read a few articles in a month. Mr Green is trying to persuade people to subscribe digitally, but how can he possibly do so if the local media outlets provide just as much and often more content without charge?
References
| ↑1 | McClatchy Mugshot Policy:
I have not been able to access the McClatchy Mugshot Policy directly, as it does not seem to have been published externally. The only reason I have it is that two McClatchy reporters tweeted it out after it was imposed in August of 2020, and it is possible that some changes have been made to it subsequently. |
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| ↑2 | This was not a typograpical error: the spelling ‘journolist’ or ‘journolism’ comes from JournoList, an email list of 400 influential and politically liberal journalists, the exposure of which called into question their objectivity. I use the term ‘journolism’ frequently when writing about media bias. |