In our paper and on our Web site this morning we published my photograph of a young man in juvenile court.
A youth accused of pointing a gun at police officers makes a preliminary appearance in Yakima County Juvenile Court Monday, Feb. 1, 2010. He has not yet been charged with a crime.
His face is turned so he’s not readily identifiable and he is not named in the cutline or the story about his pointing a gun (a toy gun as it turns out) at a police officer two days ago.
I was asked by a reader this morning why we didn’t name the youngster and why his face wasn’t shown in the photograph. “I saw his face in court on the TV news last night,” commented my friend.
A fair question. The answer to which challenges us as photographers.
It’s Herald-Republic policy to use a suspect’s name and photograph when they are charged with a crime, not at the time of the arrest. “This is in fairness to the person arrested. Publishing someone’s name (and photograph) in connection with a crime may signal to readers an impression of guilt. Until police and prosecutors have gathered enough evidence to warrant the filing of formal charges we usually steer clear of linking a suspect’s name (and photo) to a crime” reads the policy.
We do make exceptions to this policy. The prominence of the suspect or clarity of the situation may allow publication of names and photographs of faces before that person is charged with a crime. There is always a discussion among editors in these exceptional cases before publishing names and photographs which show faces.
But that makes it harder for us to photograph people as they’re being arrested. We have to shoot photos which show the subjects’ faces (in case it’s a really big deal and we name them before they’re formally charged) and we have to do photos of the subjects without showing faces.
Yakima police hold two men arrested Nov. 5, 2009 in connection with an early afternoon shooting at South Second Street and East Race Street. Two officers hold the men as they wait for an eyewitness to identify the suspects. Just after the shooting police believe the suspects drove east and abandoned their car near Washington Middle School and ran west to a house where the two suspects kicked in a door and tried to hide before being found by police. During their investigation police found the car as well as shoes, shirt and a handgun they are convinced belong to the suspects, said Yakima Police Capt. Rod Light. The victim was taken to the hospital with what appear to be non-life-threatening injuries, said Light.
This was the photo that ran in our paper and on our Web site. We did not do a follow story on this incident so we never used a photo which showed their faces.
I understand and respect our policy but at times, it’s frustrating. But we have to do our best to be fair.
And when the young man in the top photo is formally charged we will publish a photo which shows his face.
–Gordon King
