Tag Archives: #LexingtonHeraldLeader

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Editorial cartoonists gobsmacked by reality In continuing to cut costs, newspapers are concomitantly making themselves worth less, and providing potential customers with less reason to spend money on them.

Would it be wrong of me to retort, “Learn to code“?

Thomas Carlyle, the Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher, coined the phrase “the dismal science” to refer to economics in the 19th century, and for the print newspaper industry in the United States, economics has been a very dismal science. But in continuing to cut costs, newspapers are concomitantly making themselves worth less, and providing potential customers with less reason to spend money on them.

Editorial cartoonists’ firings point to steady decline of opinion pages in newspapers

Even in a year when media layoffs seem a daily part of the news, the firing of three Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonists in a single day was a gut punch

By David Bauder, AP Media Writer | Sunday, July 16, 2023 | 3:27 PM

NEW YORK — Even during a year of sobering economic news for media companies, the layoffs of three Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonists on a single day hit like a gut punch.

The firings of the cartoonists employed by the McClatchy newspaper chain last week were a stark reminder of how an influential art form is dying, part of a general trend away from opinion content in the struggling print industry.

Oh, puh-leeze! There has been less of a “general trend away from opinion content in the struggling print industry” than there has been a not-so-creeping influx of opinion content in what are purported to be general news stories. While a fair amount of my content concerns the biased reporting of The Philadelphia Inquirer, our nation’s third oldest continuously published daily newspaper is hardly the only offender.

Losing their jobs were Jack Ohman of California’s Sacramento Bee, also president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists; Joel Pett of the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky and Kevin Siers of the Charlotte Observer in North Carolina. Ohman and Siers were full-time staffers, while Pett worked on a free-lance contract. The firings on Tuesday were first reported by The Daily Cartoonist blog.

Full disclosure: after having retired back to the Bluegrass State, I once again became a subscriber to the Lexington Herald-Leader. Further, though never an employee of the Herald-Leader, I had several OpEd pieces published therein during the early 1980s. It is the only newspaper of any size at all in my area.

“I had no warning at all,” Ohman told The Associated Press. “I was stupefied.”

McClatchy, which owns 30 U.S. newspapers, said it would no longer publish editorial cartoons. “We made this decision based on changing reader habits and our relentless focus on providing the communities we serve with local news and information they can’t get elsewhere,” the chain said in a statement.

Can we tell the truth here? At least to judge by the Herald-Leader, the McClatchy newspapers already stink. When I left Kentucky, in December of 1984, the Herald-Leader was a decent newspaper for a mid-sized city, and did their best at covering the news not only in Lexington, but in much of eastern Kentucky.

Now? Not only can I not get delivery of the dead trees edition out in the boondocks — and I used to deliver the newspaper in Mt Sterling, Kentucky, then a small town of 5,100 people, when I was in junior high and high schools — but when I do see a print edition in a grocery store, it’s barely bigger than an advertising circular. Were it not for its coverage of University of Kentucky sports, there’s a reasonable probability that it would fail altogether.

We have, of course, noted the not-so-great journolism[1]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 … Continue reading of the Herald-Leader on many occasions, as well as the corporate-wide McClatchy Mugshot Policy. If McClatchy ever officially published its mugshot policy, a Google search has never turned it up for me, but former McClatchy reporter Nichole Manna received it in an intercompany e-mail, and tweeted it out.

The Sacramento Bee, the lead McClatchy newspaper, did have an earlier article noting that it was instituting a no-mugshots policy, before the policy went companywide.

The Herald-Leader has been quite diligent at adhering to that policy, at least as long as the offenders are black. If McClatchy is having to take these company-wide cost-saving measures, could it possibly be because they are censoring the news?

Whatever they’ve been doing, it hasn’t worked!

When I asked William Teach for his comments on the News & Observer, the McClatchy newspaper in his hometown of Raleigh, he responded, “Wasn’t even aware of the downsizing, I usually ignore the N&O since everything of interest is paywalled.” A blogger who depends on the news, and someone who does include local North Carolina stories, I’d have thought that the News & Observer would be important to him, but apparently it’s not good enough for him to shell out his hard-earned dollars to subscribe.

It’s hardly a surprise: McClatchy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February of 2020, and was eventually bought out by Chatham Asset Management, a hedge fund, which gave a no layoffs promise at the time, but reality is reality: McClatchy took the decision that the editorial cartoonists were not worth the money they were being paid, and it’s certainly true that at least what my best friend used to call the Herald-Liberal doesn’t have much of an editorial section anymore.

There is a real question of how in touch the editors are with their readership. I would point out here the Editorial Board’s recent political endorsements:

  • 2022: Charles Booker for Senate. The newspaper made no endorsement for 6th District Representative, because no serious Democrat filed, the Democratic nominee was a perennial kook candidate, and the editors refused to endorse incumbent Representative Andy Barr, a Republican.
  • 2020: Joe Biden for President, Amy McGrath Henderson for Senate, and Josh Hicks for 6th District Representative;[2]Notably, the editors endorsed Charles Booker over Mrs Henderson in the Democratic primary, saying that he was the more progressive candidate. Mrs Henderson once said, “I am further left, I am … Continue reading
  • 2018: Amy McGrath Henderson for 6th District Representative
  • 2016: Hillary Clinton for President, Jim Gray for Senate, and Nancy Jo Kemper for 6th District Representative
  • 2014: Alison Lundergan Grimes for Senate, and Elisabeth Jensen for 6th District Representative

All Democrats, and all defeated in Kentucky and in the 6th District. It seems that the Herald-Leader Editorial Board isn’t exactly in tune with the voters of the Commonwealth. Note that the 2016 and 2014 Democratic nominees for the 6th congressional district were political novices, and the editors struggled to find much good reason to endorse them. Representative Andy Barr (R-KY 6th District) beat them both by landslide margins.[3]Dr Malcolm Jewell, one of my political science professors at the University of Kentucky during medieval times, defined a landslide margin as 10% or greater.

In fact, with the exception of the 6th district race in 2018, the editors’ endorsed candidates lost by landslide margins. Even in 2018, with Mrs Henderson outspending Mr Barr $8,274,396 to $5,580,477, she lost 51.0% to 47.8%. While Democrats have done reasonably well in Fayette County itself, the Editorial Board’s choices clearly reflect that they have abandoned the wider, eastern Kentucky subscriber base the newspaper used to have.

Still, laying off three editorial cartoonists, and getting rid of editorial cartoons companywide, saved McClatchy very little money over thirty newspapers, and with bandwidth so cheap, virtually no money or space in the digital editions. The obvious conclusion is that more cost-saving measures will be taken, and soon.

References

References
↑1 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.
↑2 Notably, the editors endorsed Charles Booker over Mrs Henderson in the Democratic primary, saying that he was the more progressive candidate. Mrs Henderson once said, “I am further left, I am more progressive, than anyone in the state of Kentucky,” while at a fund raiser in Massachusetts.
↑3 Dr Malcolm Jewell, one of my political science professors at the University of Kentucky during medieval times, defined a landslide margin as 10% or greater.
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More ‘journolism’ from the Lexington Herald-Leader

Brandi Whitaker, a former Madison County teacher, pleaded guilty to unlawful use of electronic device to induce a minor in 2017. She was given shock probation that same year. WKYT. Click to enlarge.

No, that’s not a typo in the headline: 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.

The Lexington Herald-Leader doesn’t like to publish photos of people accused of, or even convicted of, serious crimes, but they made an exception in the case of Brandi Whitaker, formerly a biology teacher at Madison Southern High School near Berea who allegedly had sex with a 16-year-old male student; Miss Whitaker pleaded guilty to an electronic communication charge, a Class D felony in Kentucky, and was sentenced to a year behind bars.

Part of a series that the newspaper carried on teachers who’ve had their licenses suspended, primarily for sexual abuse of students, was mentioned because Miss Whitaker received a “shock probation” in less than two months.

Man arrested, charged after shooting in downtown Lexington early Sunday morning

by Taylor Six | Sunday, October 2, 2022 | 2:10 PM EDT

A man is facing multiple charges after he was arrested in downtown Lexington following a shooting that sent a man to the hospital early Sunday morning.

Twenty-eight-year-old Adrian Black was arrested by Lexington Police after he allegedly shot a man near the Fifth-Third Pavilion and Cheapside, according to Sgt. Nate Williams.

Around 1:45 a.m. on Sunday, police working in the downtown entertainment area heard shots fired. The located a adult male victim with non-life threatening injuries.

According to Williams, police were able to locate Black who was leaving the scene in the immediate area.

Williams stated officers on the scene were told by witnesses that there was a physical altercation before the shooting between the suspects.

Adrian Black, photo by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record.

Adrian Marcel Black, born February 7, 1994, was not exactly unfamiliar to the Lexington Police Department, as the public record from the Fayette County Detention Center shows two previous mug shots of him, dated March 22, 2014 and June 11, 2019. He faces charges of:

  • KRS §508.060 Wanton Endangerment, First Degree, two counts, a Class D felony, which, under KRS §532.060 carries a sentence of one (1) to five (5) years in the state penitentiary.
  • KRS §508.010, Assault, First Degree, a Class B felony, which, under KRS §532.060 carries a sentence of no less than ten (10) to twenty (20) years in the state penitentiary.

The crimes of which Mr Black has been accused are serious ones, far more serious than that to which Miss Whitaker pleaded guilty, as measured by the fact she was convicted of a single Class D felony, while Mr Black faces a Class B felony charge, yet what my best friend used to call the Herald-Liberal chose not to print his photo, unlike the case with Miss Whitaker.

I might not have covered this, had the newspaper not published the photo of Miss Whitaker; that would have been consistent with their policy — a policy with which I disagree — of not publishing such photos. But they did publish Miss Whitaker’s photo, then returned to their standard operating procedure by not publishing Mr Black’s. Yet Mr Black, if he makes his $50,000 bail, is far more of a clear and present danger on the city’s streets than Miss Whitaker!

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You in a heap o’ trouble!

Meet J’Lynn Hersey! Just four weeks after his 18th birthday, young Mr Hersey managed to rack up an impressive list of criminal charges:

  • KRS §508.010 Assault, First Degree, a Class B felony, 1 count
  • KRS §512.020 Criminal Mischief, First Degree, a Class D felony, 3 counts
  • KRS §512.030 Criminal Mischief, Second Degree, a Class A misdemeanor, 2 counts
  • KRS 512.040 Criminal Mischief, Third Degree, a Class B misdemeanor, 2 counts
  • KRS §508.060 Wanton Endangerment, First Degree, a Class D felony, 5 counts
  • KRS §520.095 Fleeing or Evading Police via Motor Vehicle, First Degree, a Class D felony, 1 count
  • KRS §520.095Fleeing or Evading Police on Foot, First Degree, a Class D felony, 1 count
  • Leaving the Scene of an Accident, Failure to Render Aid or Assistance, 1 count
  • No Operator’s License, Moped, 1 count
  • Failure to Appear, Citation for Misdemeanor
    • KRS §508.010 Assault, First Degree, a Class B felony, 1 count
    • KRS §508.060 Wanton Endangerment, First Degree, a Class D felony, 2 counts
    • KRS §527.100 Possession of a Handgun by a Minor, a Class A misdemeanor for a first offense, Class D felony for a subsequent offense, 2 counts
    • KRS 512.040 Criminal Mischief, Third Degree, a Class B misdemeanor, 2 counts

Under KRS §532.060, the sentence for a Class B felony is not less than ten (10) years nor more than twenty (20) years imprisonment, and the sentence for a Class D felony is not less than one (1) year nor more than five (5) years imprisonment. Under KRS §532.090, the sentence for a Class A misdemeanor is imprisonment for a term not to exceed twelve (12) months.

Young Mr Hersey could be spending a good, long time as a guest of the Commonwealth, at least if Commonwealth’s Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn doesn’t use ‘mediation’ to let him off lightly. It would seem that young Mr Hersey, if he is guilty of the charges against him — and he is innocent until proven guilty — has a serious lack of respect for the law:

18-year-old faces charges for two recent shootings in Lexington, police say

by Alex Acquisto | Friday, August 19, 2022 | 7:47 AM EDT

J’Lynn Hersey, photo by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record.

A young man arrested earlier this month for a shooting on East Short Street has been charged with crimes related to another shooting.J’Lynn Hersey, 18, has been charged in a shooting that occurred on Aug. 11 in the 800 block of Nickwood Trail and left one man injured, the Lexington Police Department announced Thursday.

Hersey was previously taken into custody and charged in a shooting on East Short Street near Elm Tree Lane on Aug. 12. In that incident, he allegedly fired multiple shots from his car at another vehicle and then fled from police on foot.

Around 9:10 p.m. on Aug. 11, officers responded to a shots fired call on Nickwood Trail. Police arrived to find a 27-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.

In addition to the charges stemming from the shooting on East Short Street, Hersey has been charged with first-degree assault, two counts of wanton endangerment, three counts of first-degree criminal mischief, two counts of second-degree criminal mischief, and two counts of third-degree criminal mischief.

What my best friend used to call the Lexington Herald-Liberal chose not to publish Mr Hersey’s mugshot, but WKYT-TV, Channel 27, showed it, as did WTVQ-TV, Channel 36, WLEX-TV, Channel 18, and the city’s press release. Despite the McClatchy Mugshot Policy’s[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 concern about ‘disproportionate harm to people of color,’ the people of Lexington knew what Mr Hersey looked like. The newspaper claims a daily readership — not circulation — of 159,826, which assumes that three people read each copy, while the total number of households of the three television stations which showed Mr Hersey’s mugshot was for the 6:00 PM newscast is 95,000.[2]Calculated as an 18.7% ‘share,’ where one rating point equals 5,082 homes. The Herald-Leader did not keep readers from knowing that the suspect is black. And let’s tell the very politically incorrect truth here: anyone who read the suspect’s first name, J’Lynn, simply assumed that he is black.

I asked, just yesterday, if The Philadelphia Inquirer’s policy of concealing race from news stories doesn’t actually contribute to the stereotype that most criminals are black. In Philly, it seems like they are! But as I showed here and here and here and here, just over the last month, a lot of criminal suspects in Lexington are white. By concealing mugshots, the Herald-Leader just might be strengthening the stereotype that they are trying to kill.

Back to Mr Hersey: does anyone really believe that this guy — assuming that the charges against him are valid — is really a candidate to be reformed? Or is he more likely to commit other violent crimes after he gets out of prison? We can’t know that, in advance, but we do know one thing: as long as he’s behind bars, he won’t be shooting up Lexington’s streets. And the next time he does shoot up the city’s streets, someone could wind up stone cold graveyard dead.

References

References
↑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 those arrested but not convicted of a crime have the photograph attached to their names forever. Beyond the personal impact, inappropriate publication of mugshots disproportionately harms people of color and those with mental illness. In fact, some police departments have started moving away from taking/releasing mugshots as a routine part of their procedures.

To address these concerns, 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.

  • 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?

If an exception is made, editors will need to take an additional step with the Pub Center to confirm publication by making a note in the ‘package notes‘ field in Sluglife.

↑2 Calculated as an 18.7% ‘share,’ where one rating point equals 5,082 homes.
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Irresponsible journolism from the Lexington Herald-Leader

No, that’s not a typo in the title: the spelling of ‘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.

What my, sadly late, best friend used to call the Lexington Herald-Liberal published a story this morning on an escaped prisoner from an addiction-treatment center.

Prison inmate is at-large after escaping custody in Lexington, police say

by Christopher Leach | Monday, July 11, 2022 |10:20 AM EDT

Authorities across Kentucky are searching for an inmate who escaped custody on Saturday.

According to Kentucky State Police, David Lewis, who was staying at the Hope Center’s recovery residence in Lexington, removed his ankle monitor and walked away from the facility at approximately 1 p.m. Saturday. Trooper Josh Satterly with state police confirmed at 9:15 a.m. Monday that Lewis is still at-large.

Lewis, originally an inmate at the Blackburn Correctional Complex off Spurr Road in Lexington, was last seen wearing blue jeans and a white sleeveless shirt, according to state police. He was also carrying a black trash bag of personal belongings.

Read more here.

The Herald-Leader‘s story continued to tell us that Mr Lewis is 5’5″ tall, weighs 145 lb, and has black hair and brown eyes. Mr Lewis turns 42 years old this coming Saturday, and was, on May 6, 2020, sentenced to five years in prison. But what the newspaper didn’t do was publish his photo! If the Herald-Leader is going to inform readers that they can call State Police Post 12 at 502-227-2221, or a local police agency, if they have any information as to Mr Lewis’ whereabouts, why wouldn’t they publish his picture, in case a reader happens to see him out on the street?

We have mentioned the McClatchy Mugshot Policy many times before, but that policy does allow for exceptions, if approved by the editor. Wouldn’t an escaped prisoner, in this case a man already convicted, not just someone accused of a crime and awaiting trial, and apparently addicted to drugs, merit that exception?

Did editor Pete Baniak decide that no, the newspaper wouldn’t help locate Mr Lewis? Did article author Christopher Leach not even ask him if the photo could be used? I found it easily enough; Mr Leach could have as well.

This is just irresponsible on the part of the Lexington newspaper!

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An accused killer arrested in Lexington, had gotten off lightly for a previous murder

We have previously noted that Fayette County Commonwealth’s Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn had a history of giving accused murderers the opportunity to plead guilty to manslaughter instead, and get reduced sentences.

Miss Red Corn was a member of the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office in 2012, but was not the office holder at the time.

    Man previously convicted in a deadly shooting faces murder charge in Lexington

    by Christopher Leach | Friday, April 8, 2022 | 2:40 PM EDT | Updated: 3:12 PM EDT

    Kenneth Waskins, photo by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record.

    The Lexington Police Department has arrested a man accused of killing 38-year-old Wesley Brown on Breckenridge Street more than a year ago.

    Kenneth Wadkins, 41, was taken into custody Friday morning, police said. He’s been charged with murder and is being held at the Fayette County Detention Center on a $500,000 bond, according to jail records.

    On Jan. 21, 2021, police found Brown with a gunshot wound in the 500 block of Breckenridge Street after responding to a call of shots fired, according to police. Brown was taken to the hospital but died of his injuries two weeks later.

    The incident was one of five fatal shootings in Lexington in January 2021. Wadkins previously faced a murder charge when he was arrested and accused of the 2010 killing of Rocardo Cole. His charge was later amended down to facilitation to manslaughter after accepting a plea deal. He was sentenced to five years in prison. Joseph Richardson, another defendant accused of killing Cole, pleaded guilty to reckless homicide. He was also sentenced to five years.

    The victim’s family said at the time they didn’t feel justice was served, but prosecutors said they had trouble finding witnesses who saw the entire altercation that led to Cole’s death. The prosecution ultimately negotiated plea deals with both men after talking to witnesses and the defense.

Also see: Applause in courtroom when Woodford County judge rejects a negotiated 10-year sentence after killer allowed to plead down.

This is what happens when a killer is treated leniently. While Mr Wadkins must be presumed innocent until proven guilty, if the charge against him is accurate, the only reason that Wesley Brown is dead is because Mr Wadkins was not in prison when he should have been, when he could have been had the Commonwealth’s Attorney been able to find sufficient witnesses to put him away for murder.

The Lexington Herald-Leader, of course, declined to publish Mr Wadkins’ mugshot. Given that Herald-Leader reporter Christopher Leach referred to viewing “jail records”, and it was from the Fayette County Detention Center’s public records that I obtained the photo, it’s obvious that Mr Leach saw the mugshot, and could have used it, were it not for the stupid McClatchy Mugshot Policy.

That policy is meant, supposedly, to protect those accused but not convicted, but Mr Wadkins was an already convicted felon. This is the kind of man who, if you see him coming toward you on the sidewalk, you should be on your guard, and cross the street if you can, but the Herald-Leader doesn’t want the people of Lexington to have that information.

Will Miss Red Corn be able to put Mr Wadkins away for murder this time? Will she even try? After all, she allowed Xavier Hardin to plead guilty to manslaughter, when his killing of Kenneth Bottoms, Jr, was caught on a security camera.

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Big Brother is watching you!

Fortunately, what my, sadly late, best friend used to call the Lexington Herald-Liberal, which refuses to publish mugshots of criminal suspects, even when those suspects are previously convicted felons, did publish a photo of what these license plate readers look like. This will enable the bad guys to spot them and then destroy them.

    Lexington to get cameras that read, track license plates. Here’s how they will be used

    by Beth Musgrave | Tuesday, March 15, 2022 | 5:00 PM EDT

    Web capture of photo from the Lexington Herald-Leader. Click to enlarge.

    There will soon be additional video cameras on Lexington streets.

    The city recently partnered with Flock Safety and the National Police Foundation for a one-year pilot study using 25 fixed cameras that automatically read license plates in areas experiencing high crime.

    The cameras are expected to be installed sometime in April. It’s not clear where those cameras will be located.

Normally, I avoid photos from the Herald-Leader, but this one is germane to the article; this is the photo used by the newspaper to show everybody what these devices look like, and I include it as documentary evidence that the paper did publish the photo of what the license plate readers look like. Don’t think that the bad guys won’t spot them. Personally, I hope that the bad guys do spot them, and destroy every last one of them.

Further down:

    Lowe said the cameras will take six or seven images of a vehicle. The license plate will automatically be checked if it is on various lists including Amber alerts for kidnapped children, stolen vehicles or vehicles associated with a violent offenses. If the reader finds a vehicle on that list, law enforcement will be notified.

    Sometimes police also get information from witnesses about cars or trucks leaving a scene. Police can use the cameras to try to find that vehicle, he said.

Lexington Assistant Police Chief Eric Lowe stated that he did not believe that the data gathered could be used for such things as people trying to get access to the data through an Open Records Act request to track someone such as an ex-spouse, but, of course, he doesn’t actually know that, since it hasn’t been tested in a Kentucky court. Nor can he know, now, what changes will be made in the future as far as use of the data gathered will be.

We can’t know, in advance, just what changes will be made to the allowable use of the data, but we know from long experience that whenever the government adds a citizen surveillance method, the uses for it continually expand.

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Another murder in Lexington Still, the city is two behind last year's murder pace

Juan Carlos Linares, Photo by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record., Click to enlarge.

Lexington just suffered it’s sixth homicide of 2022, and the Lexington Police Department arrested Juan Carlos Linares for the murder of the victim. I suppose that we could say that Mr Linares was ‘known to the police,’ to euphemism, in that his record at the Fayette County Detention Center showed seven mugshots of him, from arrests beginning on January 27, 2018 through March 5, 2022.

    Three people arrested after shooting in downtown Lexington leaves one dead, one injured

    by Karla Ward | Saturday, March 5, 2022 | 2:04 PM EST | Updated: 4:50 PM EST

    Lexington police have arrested three people in connection with a shooting in downtown Lexington that left one person dead and another with life-threatening injuries early Saturday.

    Police announced the arrests in a news release late Saturday afternoon, saying the three suspects, Juan Linares, 23; Humberto Saucedo-Salgado, 25; and Oziel Saucedo-Salgado, 28, were being held in the Fayette County Detention Center.

    The name of the person who died in the shooting has not been released.

Oziel Saucedo-Salgado. Photo by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record. Click to enlarge.

There’s more here.

The brothers — or at least I assume they are brothers, from their names — Saucedo-Salgado were booked on First-degree assault charges, and they each had just the current mugshots listed.

Naturally, what my unfortunately late best friend used to call the Lexington Herald-Liberal chose not to publish the mugshots shown in this article, but those mugshots are public records, and I do believe in publishing them.

It would seem that Messrs Saucedo-Salgado chose the wrong guy to hang with. Mr Linares, charged with murder, is looking at spending the rest of his miserable life behind bars, and could even get the death penalty, at least if the Fayette County Commonwealth’s Attorney. Lou Ann Red Corn doesn’t cut him a sweetheart plea bargain deal like she has done so many times recently.

Humberto Saucedo-Salgado. Photo by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record. Click to enlarge.

If Mr Linares has been arrested seven times from January 27, 2018 — and we don’t know if he has a prior, sealed juvenile record — it has to be asked: why was he out on Short Street in downtown Lexington on March 5, 2022? The initial charges listed in the Detention Center records do not have the tell-tale charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, so we cannot assume that any of his previous arrests were for felonies, or even that he was ever convicted of anything. However, he was booked on a Saturday, so additional charges might well be filed once the work week begins.

With six homicides thus far in 2022, Lexington is two behind the same date in record setting 2021, when 37 souls were sent untimely to their eternal rewards, though with one shooting victim in the hospital with “life-threatening injuries” the toll could rise to seven.

At least Lexington isn’t Philadelphia, where at least 88 homicides have occurred through the end of Friday, March 4th, five killings ahead of last year’s pace.

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More journolism from the Lexington Herald-Leader Are the editors taking their decisions based upon race?

No, that’s not a typo in the article headline; journolism has a real meaning. 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.

We noted, on January 27th, that what my best friend used to refer to as the Lexington Herald-Liberal was perfectly fine with ignoring the McClatchy Mugshot Policy when it came to white people accused of crimes, but seemed to decline to do so for black defendants. And here they go again:

    State trooper injured in shooting released from hospital; Lexington man charged

    by Karla Ward | Saturday, January 29, 2022 | 1:23 PM EST | Updated: 4:11 PM EST

    LeeQuan Taylor, photo by Kentucky Department of Corrections, via WCHS-TV.

    A 22-year-old Lexington man is charged with attempted murder of a police officer in connection with a shooting that injured a Kentucky State Police trooper in Harrison County Friday afternoon.

    Kentucky State Police said in a tweet Saturday afternoon that the trooper, whose name has not been released, was recuperating at home after being released from University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital.

    Aside from the attempted murder charge, LeeQuan T. Taylor is charged with first-degree assault and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon. He was taken to the Bourbon County Regional Detention Center after his arrest Friday night.

There’s more at this link.

LeeQuan Taylor, photo by Bourbon County Detention Center, via Fox56. Click to enlarge.

The Bourbon County Detention Center released a more recent mugshot of the accused.

The Bourbon County photo was included in the Fox56 story, originally posted at 12:58 PM, and updated at 2:57 PM, well before the Herald-Leader story was updated, so it was available to Karla Ward, the reporter. The newspaper’s story about the arrest of Burl Hollen is still available, and despite the paper being notified, both by comment on the story and via Twitter of their use of the mugshot of a white defendant, the photo is still on the story. The story on Mr Hollen does not indicate that he has a past criminal record.

Yet Saturday’s story on the capture of Mr Taylor noted that he is a previously convicted felon, which means, at least according to the Herald-Leader’s reporting, worse than Mr Hollen; Mr Hollen is innocent until proven guilty, while Mr Taylor, though innocent until proven guilty in the shooting of the state trooper, is guilty of felonies in the past. One would think that, if the editors of the newspaper were going to make an exception to the McClatchy Mugshot Policy, it would have been for Mr Taylor, not Mr Hollen. But, as I have noted in the past, Mr Taylor is black, while Mr Hollen is white.

Is that really the difference?

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The Lexington Herald-Leader and journalistic ethics

In The First Street Journal, I frequently refer to journolism. 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.

The McClatchy Mugshot Policy states:

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 those arrested but not convicted of a crime have the photograph attached to their names forever. Beyond the personal impact, inappropriate publication of mugshots disproportionately harms people of color and those with mental illness. In fact, some police departments have started moving away from taking/releasing mugshots as a routine part of their procedures.

To address these concerns, 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. Editors considering an exception should ask:

  • 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?

If an exception is made, editors will need to take an additional step with the Pub Center to confirm publication by making a note in the ‘package notes‘ field in Sluglife.

So, if a rape suspect was arrested in Madison County, someone who cannot be an urgent threat to the community, since he’s now in custody, someone who isn’t a public official or suspect in a hate crime, a serial killer or suspect in a high-profile crime, One would assume that the Lexington Herald-Leader wouldn’t publish his picture, right?

    Screenshot from Lexington Herald-Leader

    Kentucky State Police assists Madison County Sheriff’s Office with arrest of rape suspect

    by Christopher Leach | Thursday, January 27, 2022 | 7:23 AM EST

    Troopers with Kentucky State Police in Estill County arrested a suspect accused of sexual assaulting a minor on Tuesday, according to the Madison County Sheriff’s Office.

    Burl Hollon, of Waco, was charged with two counts of rape, two counts of sodomy and two counts of sexual abuse. He is being lodged at the Madison County Detention Center.

    No other details have been released about Hollon’s case. The sheriff’s office conducted the investigation while KSP made the arrest.

The mugshot there? That’s a screenshot taken from the Herald-Leader original, and it’s most certainly a police mugshot, taken from the Madison County Sheriff’s Facebook page.

Now, I have no sympathy for the accused, but not yet convicted, Mr Hollen. The Facebook page states that he has been accused of:

  • Rape, 1st Degree – Victim <12 years of age
  • Rape, 2nd Degree – No Force
  • Sodomy, 1st Degree – Victim <12 years of age
  • Sodomy, 2nd Degree
  • Sexual Abuse, 1st Degree – Victim U/12 years
  • Sexual Abuse, 3rd Degree

Just the first charge:

    KRS § 510.040. Rape in the first degree.
    (1) A person is guilty of rape in the first degree when:
    (a) He engages in sexual intercourse with another person by forcible compulsion; or
    (b) He engages in sexual intercourse with another person who is incapable of consent because he:
    1. Is physically helpless; or
    2. Is less than twelve (12) years old.
    (2) Rape in the first degree is a Class B felony unless the victim is under twelve (12) years old or receives a serious physical injury in which case it is a Class A felony.

Class A felonies in the Bluegrass State can result in prison sentences of 20 to 50 years, or life imprisonment.

If convicted, Mr Hollen should receive the maximum sentence allowable under the law; the only way he should ever leave prison is in a hearse.

But I noticed, as I have before, that the Herald-Leader, which very much eschews publishing the mugshots of photos of black persons accused of, or even convicted of, serious crimes, certainly seems less reticent when it comes to publishing the photos of white suspects.

According to the Lexington Police Department’s shootings investigations page, there have been nine non-fatal shootings in the city . . . and eight of the victims have been black. In 2021, with 134 shootings reported, there were 20 victims who are white, and 12 more listed as Hispanic, which leaves 102 victims listed as black. That’s 76.12%, in a city in which just 14.2% of the population are black. The lead McClatchy newspaper, the Sacramento Bee, stated that publishing mugshots and crime videos, “disproportionately harms people of color and those with mental illness, while also perpetuating stereotypes about who commits crime in our community.”

So what are the editors of the Herald-Leader doing? Whether intentionally or otherwise, the paper’s coverage of crime and their choices in which photos to use appear to be aimed at persuading readers that the perpetrators of crimes in the region are primarily white. While in the eastern Kentucky areas of the Herald-Leader’s circulation area, that’s probably true, given that the non-white percentage of the population in that area is very low, but when you get to the city of Lexington, the numbers say that no, that’s not the case.

To not “perpetuat(e) stereotypes”, the newspaper would print no mugshots at all; printing a disproportionate percentage of mugshots in which the accused are white is an active attempt to not just avoid stereotypes, but to skew the public’s perception in an inaccurate direction.

Part of the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics states:

    Ethical journalism should be accurate and fair. Journalists should be honest and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.

  • Never deliberately distort facts or context, including visual information. Clearly label illustrations and re-enactments.

What the editors of the Herald-Leader are doing is distorting the facts, using visual information.

This is journolism, not journalism, this is the skewing of information to produce a false impression. If the editors are aware of what is being done in the newspaper and website they control, they are deliberately lying to their readers; if the editors are somehow not aware of what they have been doing, then they are not competent in doing their jobs, and need to be replaced.

It’s easy enough to just tell the truth. If the editors are concerned that publishing mugshots “disproportionately harms people of color,” then they should stop publishing all mugshots. In that manner, while they would not be telling the whole truth, they would not be distorting the truth. But what they have been doing recently is a distortion of the truth, and rotten journalism.