Most of us have heard of the disgusting case of “Dr.” Larry Nassar. He’s the man who was sentenced last week to 175 years in prison for sexually molesting young women and girls — gymnasts — who were sent to him for care and found abuse.
The media coverage focused, as it should have, on the courtroom statements of dozens of Nassar’s victims. And on statements by the judge, which some thought were a little over the top.
If that was more information than you could handle — and don’t feel bad if it was — you might have missed this part:
From The Indianapolis Star, aka IndyStar.com, Jan. 24:
“If IndyStar journalists didn’t help expose the sexual abuse of young gymnasts by Larry Nassar, it could have gone on even longer, the chief prosecutor said.<br>“ ‘We, as a society, need investigative journalists more than ever,’ Michigan Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis said Wednesday at Nassar’s sentencing.<br>“ ‘What finally started this reckoning and ended this decades-long cycle of abuse was investigative reporting. Without that first Indianapolis Star story in August 2016; without the story where Rachael (Denhollander) came forward publicly shortly thereafter — he would still be practicing medicine, treating athletes and abusing kids.<br>“ ‘Let that sink in for a minute.’ “
Sound familiar?
That statement from the prosecutor in Michigan happened to coincide with the display, which runs through Monday, of some of the photographs by The Tribune’s Leah Hogsten now on view at the State Street campus of Salt Lake Community College. Those are the pictures that accompanied the articles by Tribune reporters who, like their Indiana colleagues, investigated the disgraceful behavior of university administrators when dealing with — or not dealing with — cases of sexual assault reported by their students.
You remember. The investigation that won last year’s Pulitzer Prize for local reporting.
The one that changed the official policies of administrators at Brigham Young University. And, to judge by a speech made there the other day by one of the school’s deans, may actually have changed some minds.
So I’m not listening to any whining about the fact that, like many other newspapers, The Salt Lake Tribune is now putting most of its content behind a paywall. Actually expecting the people who get untold benefits from living in a community with such a strong source of news and information to help pay the freight.
The monthly price of $7.99 — $1.99 if you are also a print subscriber — is a pittance compared to what most of us spend on coffee and junk food in a single day. And it’s a lot better for us.
Yes, I know. In the Internet Age, “Information Wants To Be Free.”
Well, it ain’t.
All these people who work here have hopes and dreams and families and mortgages and kids to put through college. Most of them are smart enough to make a lot more money doing something that isn’t nearly as important, but they do this because it’s gotta be done.
There is hope that another generation of journalists will come along to carry the torch. There’s the kids in Herriman who wouldn’t stop investigating when their high school shut down their newspaper.
And there was a priceless tweet the other day from an editor at the nonprofit investigative news site ProPublica. Which I reproduce in honor of a former Tribune reporter, the larger-than-life Glen Warchol, who died Wednesday at the age of four-years-older-than-me.
But, even with more pixels and less newsprint, the cost of all these expensive computers and servers and all the other stuff that goes with modern media just never goes down.
The threat of newsgathering organizations going away, or fading into insignificance, is real. In just the last week, another two of last year’s Pulitzer winners were the bearers of bad news about themselves.
The Gazette-Mail of Charleston, W.V., declared bankruptcy and was sold to a regional chain by the family that had owned it for 110 years. California’s East Bay Times, owned by the same vulture capitalist outfit that used to own The Salt Lake Tribune, announced yet another round of staff layoffs.
Us Tribbies were awfully close to the edge a couple of years ago. We cut and cut and could well have gone away altogether.
Let that sink in for a minute.
We remain grateful to Paul Huntsman and his family for bailing us out, completing the effort begun by his father, Jon Huntsman Sr., who died Friday. Grateful enough that we don’t think they should have to endlessly subsidize a money pit when, by all rights, readers who benefit the most from the work we do and the light we shine should carry more of the load.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Tribune staff. George Pyle.
George Pyle, The Tribune’s editorial page editor, is not one of those journalists who could make a lot more money doing something else. He doesn’t know how to do anything else. gpyle@sltrib.com
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