| Show 16A Thursday May 27 1999 Opinion Standard-Examine- r Standard-Examin- er SERVING THE TOP OF UTAH SINCE 1883 Scott Trundle Publisher j Doo Porter CJtonj Page Edtor fai’or Ron Thomtxj'g Court ruling hampers public information The Supreme Court’s narrow view of media inhibit Americans’ observation of law enforcement “ride-along- s” will Monday the Court ruled that police cannot invite the media into private residences when executing search warrants count by police Such documents as the media provide -news accounts still photos and videotape - could serve as evidence to support or refute various claims on both sides This is a blow to the public’s and conceivably a defendant’s - access to information concerning the conduct of law enforcement during searches seizures and arrests The court’s decision was prompted by two similar cases One involved a Washington Post reporter and photographer invited along when police executed a search warrant The police got the wrong address instead of the fugitive they were seeking they awakened the man’s mother and father who subsequently sued the law enforcement agencies involved - even though the newspaper never published a story or photos On - Anytime the media have access to observe arrests and searches the citizenry is being served Chief Justice William Rehn-quiwTote for the court “Surely the possibility of good public relations for the police is simply not enough standing g alone to justify the intrusion into a private st ride-alon- home” The chief justice and his colleagues on the Supreme Court have too narrowly construed the reasons for media ride-alon- gs Yes peace offi- cers may be interested in the public taking note of their professionalism but the media’s interest is essentially that of the general public: To observe in a watchdog role Absent the permission to accompany officers into a private residence reporters and photographers will have to content themselves to sort out any potential conflicts between an alleged perpetrator’s version of events and the ac The other case resulted from a lawsuit filed by a couple whose Montana ranch was raided by federal wildlife agents with a CNN news crew in tow Other particulars of that case are still before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals While it is reassuring that the justices on this nation’s Supreme Court have reaffirmed their support of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches within the sanctity of the home it is distressing that they have blocked the public’s ability - via the media - to document these searches andor arrests from an objective viewpoint Media muffle real answers to violence Psychiatrist: Solutions not sexy enough for the front page By STEPHANIE SALTER San Francisco Examiner SAN FRANCISCO - Every time there is another outburst of mass adolescent violence in some quiet white bread American town Oakland child psychiatrist Herb Schreier gets a spate of phone calls from reporters Dutifully he answers their questions about “w hat kind of kid” shoots up his high school or plants bombs in his junior high Painstakingly he reminds callers that - while there is a surge in school shootings - official statistics do not support the existence of “an epidemic of teen crime” Tactfully Schreier points out that there is a bit of institutionalized racism in the way the news media sensationalize white shootings of and by middle-clas- s kids but essentially ignore minority victims of violence and their attackers Patiently he describes the need for early detection and treatment - especially for kids who depend on public health programs - and lists the many social and therapeutic approaches that are proven to work Then almost always not much pens “These issues are extremely ANOTHER VIEW That’s before taxes Pay raises are touchy subjects in Congress and there is considerable apprehension about raising the president’s pay In 210 years American have received four pay raises the last one - to $200000 - in 1969 Congress is now timidly contemplating doubling the chief executive’s salary The raise would not benefit President Clinton The Constitution says the president’s pay cannot be changed during his term of office a restriction Congress waited 203 years to apply to itself While proponents raise supporting arguments of fairness private sector salaries and equity - if the president’s pay were it inflation-adjuste- d argues that the president already makes more than 99 percent of Americans The pay raise has two merits: symbolic because it shows that Congress and the public respect the office well enough to decently compensate its holder and practical because it maintains an orderly pay scale A presidential pay freeze tends to hold down salaries across the government including those of workers who really need it and because of an anomaly the vice president whose salary $175400 is tied to congressional pay and rises with the may soon make more than the president cost-of-livi- ng would be $932000 a year by one measure - the chief execuCongress should go ahead tive’s salary is largely a non-issu- e and give the next president Candidates do not run for whoever he or she is the the White House for the monraise At average of one inearney and an crease every 52 years or so it ing power is limited only by could be a long time before good sense and good taste there’s another one - Scripps Howard News Sen ice One opponent of the raise 'Ul iZ t I'""1 muife hap- com- plex” said Schreier “But nobody wants to hear that We reach for very simple-minde- d solutions in this country And the media have a short attention span” As for successful remedies: “I believe the public wants to hear more about what can be done but that doesn't seem to be sexy enough for the media” Indeed it will be the proverbial cold day in hell before we're likely to hear a prime time newscast tease w ith: “Doctors find that close supervision and support by just one parent - from early age into adolescence - can lower an child's criminal tendencies by 80 at-ri- percent” n Or imagine an e headline that declares: “Schools with policies ly w ipe out teen violence” and antiadopting strong harassment policies Like weekly visits to teenage moms by community workers who can mentor and teach them parenting skills Like public school boards not e counselors just miking about and after school music and arts programs but making these necessities a priority in every school anti-bullyi- full-tim- He is also talking about those of us in the news media owning up to our share of the responsibility specifically about the way we cover - and cover and cover - such stories as the school shootings in Jonesboro Ark or Littleton Colo eight-colum- front-pag- anti-bullyi- fair- In two decades of treating kids at Children's Hospital in Oakland Schreier has seen all manner of horror and heartbreak As one of only two child psychiatrists on staff his current caseload is 200 One violent child a who was brought to the clinic for help already was on his eighth foster home Children's could not take him “The acuity of our kids in our clinic is very' high” said Schreier But amid the pain he has also seen reasons to hope Many lie in some of the most common accessible places “Fm not talking about psychiatric care I’m talking about family support” said Schreier And he is talking about doable things like teaching empathy to grade school and junior high kids Like schools “I am no media expert but every re- - ' porter I talk to tells me he or she feels bad about the w ay the media sensationalize these stories Every reporter is of the media's culpability” said Schreier "But reporters do not determine what is covered as news” fully-awar- Numerous studies he said have shown that a significant decrease in teens taking their own lives occurs when local news media do not overplay or sensationalize stories of adolescent suicide W hen a story is made into a big deal the rate increases with copycat suicides “It's called the contagion effect” said Schreier “And no it is not a large leap of logic to assume that the same thing happens with teenage homicides This is ' not rocket science" Stephanie Salter is a columnist for the San I'rancisco Examiner Her column runs occasionally Clinton doesn’t get it Double-talkin- g He speaks of reconciliation recovery while ignoring real war WASHINGTON - Bill Clinton a better president than columnist traduces the truth the way a shark feeds - relentlessly voraciously as a metabolic necessity As in his column in Sunday's New York Times which began with these words: “We are in Kosovo with our al” lies to stand for He could not go three words without involving the truth in a fender-bende- r We are not “in” Kosovo any more than we were "in" Germany in 1943 You may ask what is a preposition among friends? Well as Mark Twain said "the difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter - 'tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning” But sticking to the truth - “We are over Kosovo with - would have sacrificed our allies style to facts The Times careless about the semantic niceties involved in what is called “coercive diplomacy” titled Clinton's column “A Just and Necessary War” thereby using as Clinton did not the "W” word Columnist Clinton spoke only of “our military campaign” Tlic president who has not stopped campaigning since he was in his 20s confuses war which is about the destruction of the enemy’s forces with modem politics which is about inducing mood swings in mass audiences Still all wars end This one will When and how? Opinions differ The lead story in Monday’s Washington Post reported the commander of NATO's air war US Air f orce Lt Gen Michael Short saying of the Yugoslav army in Kosovo “I don't have a good feel for knowing how close they are to breaking" but he has a feeling that two more months of the campaign JlgMjkvsgpi as it now is being conducted will either “kill” it or “send it on the run” He said if you are being pounded so relentlessly that you "know that every time you move you’re liable to be hit at some point your spirit will break particularly if you're not getting any help from Belgrade” The lead story in Monday's New York Times reported that Belgrade is sending fresh troops into Kosovo NATO's military spokesman Maj Gen Walter Jertz: “We have no sign of withdrawal The contrary is cor- rect” Paddy Ashdown a former Royal Marine commando now leader of Britain’s Liberal Democrats says he has never heard of anyone "surrendering to an aircraft” However NATO is being methodical which can be a military virtue But time may be on the side of Slobodan Milosevic who may be able to hunker down longer than NATO can continue papering over its differences which will widen as NATO's target list expands and civilian casualties multiply Italy wants a bombing halt Greece says Turkey's planes participating in the air war cannot cross Greek air space Hungary says it will not be a staging ground for a ground attack National Journal's James Kitlicld reports on "passive resistance" within NA I O at war He says that early in the air war some governments of NA TO members showed displeasure with certain target selections by Hying their missions but re- - fusing to release their ordnance claiming mechanical or weather problems And Germany vows to veto any NATO use of ground forces except in a ' “permissive" environment meaning with Milosevic's permission Perhaps there is something to be said for ending the worrving about German military reluctance Columnist Clinton says “I do not rule out" such options as ground forces A spokesman for Clinton's National Security Council says the administration is "steadfast” against ground troops d about what it steadfastly opposes the administration plans to make the Balkans whole again with perhaps something analogous to the Tennessee Valley Authority While satellites in their quiet orbits photograph mass graves NATO planners in quiet conference rooms anticipate the return of the surv ivors of the buried to live under the sovereignty of the buriers And Clinton plans reconciliation: “There needs to be a magnet a stronger force pulling people together than the forces pulling people apart That means there needs to be an economic revitalization program that embraces the region” The “military campaign" may not be going exactly as planned but postwar recovery will be a piece of cake We w ill write a check It is beyond parody it is impervious to satire In the midst of a war demonstrating emphatically and redundantly the fierce salience of religious and ethnic fevers and the ccnturics-spunnin- g durability of historical memories Clinton who evidently has not noticed the 20th century stands us the last economic His shallowness amazes George Hill is a regular panelist on ABC’s "I his Week" Ui column appears on lliundavs and Sioidn v 20th-centur- Open-minde- ' |
