When news is news
The Times-Mirror newsroom staff did what it's paid to do this week: Report the news. As professional journalists, we all have a responsibility to inform the public.
Our decision to run the incest trial of the Rev. James Luther Bevel at the top of the A section two weeks running was a correct one. Every other news media has covered this story, and we'd be remiss not to give it our best attention.
Granted, the subject matter leaves something to be desired, but we cannot shy away from that. We've received phone calls and complaints from readers about the story "being too graphic," or "that shouldn't run in a family newspaper."
But the the bottom line is that news is news.
Times-Mirror crime reporter Jana Renn added a nice touch to the story, including a box on April's National Child Abuse Prevention Month, with tips on how to prevent possible child abuse.
In the 1960s, Bevel was a leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, two stalwart organizations that led efforts to desegregate the South.
In 1992, he was vice presidential running mate to political maverick Lyndon LaRouche, who has a home in Loudoun but at the time was in a federal prison for a tax conviction.
This was a story that needed to be covered. Jana Renn spent hours in the courtroom and should be commended for providing a detailed account of the trial.
So I say to those readers who were offended by our efforts to provide information on a trial that received national interest, you're certainly entitled to your opinion.
But, remember, news is news.