Spring Break
Letter to the editor 1
Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: Opinion
One of my students (not at my urging) is filing a Freedom of Information Act request to get the information I wish I'd been allowed to receive yesterday:
What did the note say?
What did it look like?
It might have helped me calm down my sister who, from Pennsylvania, yesterday implored me to leave the campus yesterday. I hadn't wanted to. She insisted.
If I'd had access to what I've heard about the note (I am, after all, a journalist) I could have reasoned with her.
But there's no reasoning with a lack of information.
This reminds me of the panic Gainesville Police created in 1991 during the Gainesville murders. I was the Morning Edition host and producer at WUFT on campus and an instructor in Journalism. And I needed some sleep, given that I fit the profile of a lot of those targeted by this madman.
All we wanted to know was: How was the murderer entering those apartments-was he picking locks? (that way we'd figure out how to best to secure a door or a window or type of same). What was the murder weapon? (there was a needless run on guns in Gainesville then). Where the victims asleep at the time he entered--and when was that anyway? (we were sleeping in shifts in groups of people with the lights on and were exhausted).
In the ensuing panic as people tried leaving town, there were numerous car accidents.
I blame a lack of information provided by authorities for that. Florida police and prosecutors said they were not releasing any information lest it jeopardize their ability to prosecute and execute (old sparky in Starke was hungry, doncha know) the culprit.
They executed him.
I think it is relevant to point out the following about the man executed: He was the adult, deranged son of an abusive southern Louisiana police chief. He committed the murders at a time of major saber rattling toward Kuwait by Senior Bush. My minister at the time pointed out that during times of war-like rhetoric, there seems to be a rise in 'acting out' or criminal behavior by disturbed individuals.
We live in difficult times now, a time when 'interrogate' has replaced the word 'question', when 'murder' has been replaced by 'collateral damage', and on and on. So, I think we can expect disturbed people to continue acting out.
And when they do, I want all the information I can get to determine how to mitigate my risk of living in such a war-like society.
Not releasing information relevant to helping people make up their own minds in terms of risk assessment is something we should not tolerate.
Journalists, particularly young ones, should not be forced to file Freedom of Information Act requests to give us the information we need to determine how to react to a troubling situation.
-Dr. Lisa Barr
journalism and media law professor
What did the note say?
What did it look like?
It might have helped me calm down my sister who, from Pennsylvania, yesterday implored me to leave the campus yesterday. I hadn't wanted to. She insisted.
If I'd had access to what I've heard about the note (I am, after all, a journalist) I could have reasoned with her.
But there's no reasoning with a lack of information.
This reminds me of the panic Gainesville Police created in 1991 during the Gainesville murders. I was the Morning Edition host and producer at WUFT on campus and an instructor in Journalism. And I needed some sleep, given that I fit the profile of a lot of those targeted by this madman.
All we wanted to know was: How was the murderer entering those apartments-was he picking locks? (that way we'd figure out how to best to secure a door or a window or type of same). What was the murder weapon? (there was a needless run on guns in Gainesville then). Where the victims asleep at the time he entered--and when was that anyway? (we were sleeping in shifts in groups of people with the lights on and were exhausted).
In the ensuing panic as people tried leaving town, there were numerous car accidents.
I blame a lack of information provided by authorities for that. Florida police and prosecutors said they were not releasing any information lest it jeopardize their ability to prosecute and execute (old sparky in Starke was hungry, doncha know) the culprit.
They executed him.
I think it is relevant to point out the following about the man executed: He was the adult, deranged son of an abusive southern Louisiana police chief. He committed the murders at a time of major saber rattling toward Kuwait by Senior Bush. My minister at the time pointed out that during times of war-like rhetoric, there seems to be a rise in 'acting out' or criminal behavior by disturbed individuals.
We live in difficult times now, a time when 'interrogate' has replaced the word 'question', when 'murder' has been replaced by 'collateral damage', and on and on. So, I think we can expect disturbed people to continue acting out.
And when they do, I want all the information I can get to determine how to mitigate my risk of living in such a war-like society.
Not releasing information relevant to helping people make up their own minds in terms of risk assessment is something we should not tolerate.
Journalists, particularly young ones, should not be forced to file Freedom of Information Act requests to give us the information we need to determine how to react to a troubling situation.
-Dr. Lisa Barr
journalism and media law professor
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