You be the BTK editor

At its press briefing last week, the Wichita Police Department released photos of two dolls that Dennis Rader left for police. The photos were disturbing, particularly the one of a doll that was bound and hanging from a pipe.
KAKE, Channel 10, showed the photos of this and another doll. The Eagle chose to use a portion of one doll on its Sunday front page. Did KAKE go too far? Was The Eagle too cautious? Did we both cross the line? Does it matter if the doll was depicting an adult victim or a child?
The BTK case present editors with difficult choices. How do you report what happened without being too graphic and insensitive to the victims’ families, and yet not so sanitize what happened that it misrepresents the true horror of these crimes?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee

6 Comments

  1. NoJoCo
    Posted July 15, 2005 at 8:09 am | Permalink

    I am very interested in what happens with the case. Serial killer behavior is something that I like to study. I am usually glad to read or see news about it, but when I saw the pics of the dolls, etc, on KAKE, my first reaction was that they should not have shown it. It was startling to see it, but it also confirmed to me that Dennis Rader has not changed from the time he killed the Oteros.

  2. Bohica
    Posted July 15, 2005 at 8:16 am | Permalink

    The problem with the media is that they feel they have to be first with something, at the expense of others.KSN was omitted from the BTK conference last week for their actions with the guy who was questioned about the BTK murders.

    Another thing I found amusing was how KAKE was trying to find a way to link BTK and Jon Bennet Ramsey murder (this was before Raders arrest).

    Up in Kansas City, some guy “found” a doctors computer out on the curb of his lawn. The guy took it home and found patient info on it. He turned it over to the CBS affiliate in KC. My problem with this is that this computer was still on the doctors property. In my opinion, it was stolen then. If it’s not stolen, because the man who found it claims it was out for trash, does that give everyone a right to take a kids bike they find left out on the curb?

    Watching the local news, how many times in the broadcast do you hear “we were FIRST to bring you the news”. Or “We were the only ones there to get the story”.

    I would rather have accurate news than first news.

  3. sbp
    Posted July 15, 2005 at 8:57 am | Permalink

    I don’t mean to change the subject a bit…but the fact is that anything you leave out for trash is fair game to the world. You leave it there at your own peril.

  4. Bohica
    Posted July 15, 2005 at 10:01 am | Permalink

    sbp… yes… I agree… but at the same token, a bike left by a kid on the side of the curb… wouldn’t that be considered trash? Even though you know kids will just dump their bikes anywhere.

  5. NoJoCo
    Posted July 15, 2005 at 10:13 pm | Permalink

    I believe it depends on where the object is left. The curb is generally considered public property. But it would be unethical for the bike and the computer to be taken.

  6. sbp
    Posted July 16, 2005 at 9:51 am | Permalink

    I’m a former Wichitan living on the east coast now. We are required to separate our “trash” into “trash,” paper, recyclables, and bulk pickup. People leave furniture, old bikes, old computers..everything..for bulk pickup. Folks drive around picking up items left curbside. I wasn’t a bit surprised to hear of the doctor’s laptop getting picked up….Wichita’s trash system is very rudimentary compared to what other regions do…