Al's Morning Meeting

I wish more news executives would do what Carol Fowler did. Fowler, vice president and news director on editorial process for Chicago's WFLD-TV, wrote a detailed story for her station's Web site about how and why her station paid for a video of 16-year-old Derrion Albert being beaten to death on a Chicago street.

Before airing the video, Fowler said her station called police and provided them with a copy of it. Police, she said, were grateful for the alert and asked that the station not only withhold the video but not even mention there was a video, fearing that witnesses and attackers might disappear if they thought they were about to be identified. The station complied for 24 hours, then aired the video, with some parts blurred or edited out.

In her story, Fowler explained how the station obtained the video and why the station did not blur out most of the identities of the people in it, even though they were juveniles:

"At that point, the executive producer of the newscast that evening turned to me. Would it be okay to buy the video? What about his demand for cash?

"This amateur photographer had told Hill that he had already contacted one of our television competitors, but he had refused to do business with the station because it had insisted on paying him by check. Whether he wanted cash or check seemed not to make much of a difference to me.

"The real issue was if the video was real and what it showed. We decided to ask Hill to watch the video and let us know."

Fowler admitted that she had concerns about the "videographer" who did nothing to save 16-year-old Derrion Albert. "Instead of coming to the direct aid of Albert or even calling 911, he shot video at shockingly close range, without apparent regard for Albert's life or for his own, for that matter," Fowler wrote in her story. "The video, however, backed up his story. He said he had picked up his sister from school, and the first part of the video is, indeed, shot from behind the windshield of a moving car."

I asked Fowler a few questions about why she wrote the story and about the tough decisions the station faced. You can read her edited responses below.

Al Tompkins: Why did you write this article?

Carol Fowler: There has been so much interest in the video that I thought others in the news business could benefit from knowing how we handled the story. It was a deliberate and careful process.
 
How would you have reacted if the price had been $2,500, not $250? How about $25,000? How does the size of the compensation affect your decision?

Fowler: $250 is in line with what we pay professional stringers, so that's what we offered. It isn't our practice to pay professional or amateur photographers more than that, so what we were willing to pay was not related to the content of the tape.
 
How did you handle the video in promos and teases? Do you have any thoughts on how it should or should not be used in the future?

Fowler: Promos were edited conservatively because we made the assumption that families could be watching. We used more of the video during the newscast because we were able to warn viewers that what they were about to watch was graphic. However, we still took extreme care to edit out and blur portions that did not meet broadcast standards.

How did you decide whether to identify the videographer?

Fowler: The [videographer] asked not to be identified and we honored that request.


Whether or not you agree with the station's decision to purchase the video, air it, withhold it or cooperate with police, Fowler's essay and availability to answer questions about how her station responded builds credibility.

The public needs to know how and why we do what we do. Without knowing the backstory, it is natural for the public to think everything we do is a ratings (or circulation) grab.

Fowler ended her essay with thoughts on how the video helped focus attention on an issue that needed it: "One thing is certain: Had this video not existed, the impact of Albert's death would not have been the same. Not even close," she wrote. "So thank you to the photographer who kept recording. The video opened eyes and strengthened resolve in an enormously powerful way."