Cameras in the Courts November 18, 1998 Our big story last week, indeed perhaps our biggest of the year, was a story about something that DIDN'T happen. November 16, 1998 Did We Overact? October 10, 1998 He's a cop... September 11, 1998 ...sometimes we can have a positive effect on people's lives even when some readers think we are raking them over the coals. July 25, 1998 They say that in England you are innocent until proven guilty; in France you are guilty until proven innocent; and in America you are innocent until the next edition of the newspaper flies off the presses or the evening news comes on. July 7, 1998 Delgado, who sat in his orange county jail jumpsuit, had tears streaming down his face as he listened to the charges being read the day after his nine-month old son died on a hot summer day, strapped in his car seat, in the backseat of Delgado's broiling Dodge Omni

November 16, 1998 Did we over react? Only time will tell, and initially Monday morning some of our reporters thought we had, but Monday night, we don't think so. That question gnawed at us, however, as we reviewed how we've played a local story that has garnered international interest, an alleged plot by three 15 and 16 year olds in nearby Burlington, Wisconsin, to murder their principal, other school officials, and about 20 fellow students at Burlington High School today. Sometimes these stories take on a life of their own, as the press and media feeding frenzy escalates. The plot, allegedly hatched by a group of five kids who dressed unconventionally, and were reportedly tired of being picked on by fellow students, three of them were arrested Sunday. One of them, according to information filed by the district attorney's office, was upset about a recent court order to move to a foster home several hours away from Burlington.

Two City of Burlington, Wis., police officers patrol near Burlington High School as students walk from the school Monday, Nov. 16, 1998 in Burlington. Three teenagers were charged in connection with an alleged plot to shoot people at school Monday, Nov. 16, 1998 in Juvenile Court in Racine, Wis. Photo by Jim Slosiarek (c) 1998 Racine Journal Times

We found out about the story after 10 p.m., and Gary Metro, our city editor; Tracy Buffington, our news editor; and I headed from home back to the newsroom after I phoned in the tip on the story. Last night's lead copy editor, Sam Manchester, asked me for a file photo of the school as soon as I got in, and started to remake the front page. Last week we had planned to lead Monday's paper with a timeless feature piece about date rape. Those plans have to be fluid, though, and Monday's front page had already changed dramatically once on Sunday evening when Racine police shot and killed a man who pointed a gun at officers after a stand-off. Now we had another developing story.

 

Our first edition, the Hometown edition, circulates in western Racine County, in the Burlington area. The second, or Metro edition, circulates in the more populated eastern part of the county. It was obvious that the school shooting plot had to lead the Hometown edition. Sam's design plugged the school plot in a two-column spot on the left side of the page; with date rape taking four columns for both the story and illustration that design editor Theresa Schiffer had put together. The police shooting was below the fold.

The next question was whether or not to swap the position of the school plot and police shooting stories between the Hometown and Metro editions. Sam and I chatted about options, and I suggested dropping the date rape package altogether, saving it for another day. Gary Metro gave his consent and, as the deadline clock ticked away, Sam started Page One again from scratch. We were less than two hours from press start, and he was going to have to resend the four-color separations for the whole front page through our image setters. His final design played the school plot six columns at the top in both editions. While we normally have five different stories on the front page, we had only three today: school plot, the police shooting, and the decision not to bomb Iraq.

Then came the next hard part for me as a desk editor...calling people at home and waking them up. I called photographer Jim Slosiarek, and asked him to start his Monday shift almost three hours early, so he could be at Burlington High School when students arrived for class at 7:15 a.m. I also called Cathy Schook, our circulation department single copy sales manager to alert her to the Burlington story so she could make more papers available to those readers. Press start for Hometown is 12:30 a.m. and papers are delivered by 6 a.m. to subscribers, but the demand for news was so high that Cathy was still refilling vending machines on the West End, the Hometown edition territory, as we began the Monday evening news meeting at 4:30 p.m.

People crowded into the gymnasium at Burlington High School Monday evening, November 16, 1998, to listen to community leaders, school officials and the Burlington Police Department address their concerns. Photo Liana J. Cooper (c) 1998 Racine Journal Times

Jutun (cq) Smith, left, talks to Burlington, Wis., School District officials and city officials about her concerns about her daughter, Danyell (cq) Turner's, right, safety at the high school during a news conference at the district office Monday, Nov. 16, 1998 in Burlington, Wis. Three teenagers were charged in connection with an alleged plot to shoot people at high school Monday, Nov. 16, 1998 in Juvenile Court in Racine, Wis. Photo by Jim Slosiarek (c) 1998 Racine Journal Times

Dr. Jose Martinez, principal of Burlington, Wis., High School, admits to being one of the targets in an alleged plot to shoot several students and administrators at the school during a news conference at the district office Monday, Nov. 16, 1998 in Burlington, Wis. Three teenagers were charged in connection with the plot Monday, Nov. 16, 1998 in Juvenile Court in Racine, Wis. Photo by Jim Slosiarek (c) 1998 Racine Journal Times

We have an outstanding relationship with the local judges who know they can trust us, and Circuit Court Judge Stephen Simanek agreed to let me photograph the juveniles' detention hearings, as long as the defendants were not identifiable. He was advised by the state Supreme Court to also let in one television camera, and as media coordinator for the county for the state cameras in court program, I had to set up the pool arrangements. That meant that I would provide my stills to the Associated Press so they could be available to any paper, and the CBS network crew that got the pool video spot had to make their tape available to the five other outlets that wanted to cover the hearing.

I felt a bit of pressure because we had lost hot water in the darkroom, and now, with the pool to take care of, I wasn't sure where I was going to get my film processed, because it need "push processing," which many one hour labs can't do. The hot water problem solved itself by the time I got back to the paper, and I was over that hurdle. Not everyone was pleased about having to pool coverage, but that's par for the course. I couldn't worry about people who didn't understand that access to the tiny courtroom had to be limited. My only concern had to be with getting some coverge that all of us could share. I also had to explain to people that no, they couldn't keep their cell phones on in the courtroom, or that they could not use mike flags, those annoying little signs that advertise what TV or radio station one works for. Somebody kept his pager on, though, and its vibrations were loud enough to distract some of the participants in the hearing.

The defendants were brought in individually for three successive detention hearings. The hearings were producing some of the dullest photos I have ever taken. At the end of each hearing, Simanek ruled that there was probably cause to hold each of the accused.

This photo got the most play on the wire. It's the one I was trying to take when a photographer walked into court and started interrupting me. Attorney James MacDonald, right, puts his hand on the shoulder of his client, one of three teen-agers from Burlington, Wis., charged in connection with an alleged plot to shoot people at Burlington High School, Monday November 16, 1998 in Juvenile Court in Racine, Wis. Photo by Mark Hertzberg (c) 1998 Racine Journal Times

Then, just as the last hearing ended and the defendant stood up, his mother and lawyer put their hands on his back to comfort him. A man walked into the back of the courtroom, as I was trying to shoot, asked for me, and started asking me if he could take pictures. I hissed at him and told him to go away and come back later. The last thing I needed as I was trying to shoot The Defining Photo was some guy from a metro paper 85 miles away who shows up 90 minutes after the scheduled start of the hearing and starts asking me about the ground rules. By the time I got back to the office, the Gamma-Liaison agency had called, asking to represent us to market our photos here and abroad. Jim and I scanned and transmitted photos throughout the afternoon. I couldn't use the best frame of the hands photo because they showed the defendant's face.

Liana Cooper headed to Burlington when she started her afternoon shift, going to the high school, to get a photo for our sidebar on the press attention the story had generated, a photo that showed a high school bartball field now filled with television satellite trucks. She also covered a night community meeting in the school gymnasium.

Evening television reports include an interview with one of the two students who has not been charged in the alleged plot, and quotes from one of the parents of one of the three who has been charged. Both allege that authorities have blown things out of proportion. Interestingly, the logic of the student interviewed was that the plot, if there was one, could not have succeeded because the boys were unable to get the guns they would have needed. Was his syntax bad, or was that more than he had meant to say?

Though television will do its repetetive reporter stand-ups ad naseum Tuesday, I have no immediate plans for photo coverage Tuesday. I'll probably be back in court Wednesday morning for the next real news in the story. That is when a hearing will be held to determine whether the three juveniles should be waived into adult court.

In a few months, when the court proceedings are over with, we will be able to really gauge this story. Did the authorities over react? The early spin is that they did not. Did we jump on a bandwagon, or did we play the story right? We'll see what the letters and calls tell us, but I think we did a good job of reacting to a breaking story that has turned a community upside down and inside out. One of the challenges of publishing a daily newspaper is that deadlines often force us to make quick decisions about the relevance and importance of a variety of stories daily. Each decision is a building block that helps us down the road when the next big story breaks.

How the story unfolded: Monday through Thursday covers of the Racine Journal Times

 

November 16, 1998

Mark Hertzberg