One family reunification story done, Vice News is digging in to track others
Each Sunday evening, producers of "Vice News Tonight" on HBO have a call to plan the week ahead. Last night, senior editor Rita Chan was direct about the Trump administration's family separation policy and its stumbling efforts, after withering criticism, to reunite migrant families.
“We can’t let this story drop," said Chan, a senior producer for the newscast, "just because we got our story out and the (reunification) deadline has passed."
By 6 a.m. Thursday, 1,442 kids who had been separated and held by the United States had been returned to their families, Trump administration officials said. That number included Osmín, 7, who had been reunited with his dad, Ludy García Escalante, after 51 days apart. (More below on that reunion, which Vice News aired Thursday night in the latest of nearly two months of reporting on the family).
Cases like that of the García Escalante family are "low-hanging fruit," Chan told me in an interview last night. U.S. officials knew where everyone was. The remaining cases will prove more difficult, Chan predicted.
Still separated from their parents as of Thursday, Chan noted: 711 kids 5 or older; and 57 or 58 kids under 5. And it's rare for reporters to get access to these kids or their stories.
Complicating the process for Vice and other reporters is "the unbelievable opacity of it all," as Chan put it. “The craziest part is that even the most seasoned immigration lawyers are saying, 'I’ve never seen this kind of thing before,'" said Vice correspondent Antonia Hylton, who traveled to Guatemala, Texas and Alabama for this story. People searching for their kids were told to call a number that offered long waits, elevator music and the possibility of information in three to five business days. Chan said U.S. officials working on this phone line didn't appear to work weekends or holidays.
An audio recording between Osmín, in detention, and his mom in Guatemala went viral, and Hylton's report on Osmín's dad was shattering. Even the "reunion" story Friday had wrenching moments. Watching his son play with a Spiderman plush toy and a soccer ball, Osmín's father said that in just the first few hours together, "there are times when he seems … tired, tired in the mind.”
It's clear that there are long-range effects to this treatment of a 7-year-old, the family says.
Fortunately, Osmín's big Guatemalan family was incredibly driven to get its story out, and had a knowledgable relative in the United States who kept abreast of the news.
Will the hundreds of kids still separated have the same kind of support system that Osmín did? And how many news organizations will keep coverage alive?
"The biggest lesson that I learned from this story," said Vice News producer Lindsay Van Dyke, "is that when the government made this decision, they didn't think of this outcome. I can't help but think they didn't anticipate the fallout from this. It's a pretty big mess."
Quick hits
ON-AIR HARASSMENT: What happens afterward? Did organizations offer support? Did they change systems to prevent such incidents going forward? By Britni de la Cretaz for CJR.
PEER GROUP: More than 40 journalists have joined a peer group on harassment at NPR, Current’s Mike Janssen reports.
TRUMP MEDDLING: How the president’s tweets and blatant support of pro-Trump Sinclair may hurt the FCC, which has shown reservations toward a Sinclair deal before it. By Joe Nocera for Bloomberg. Even if the Sinclair deal is dead, media consolidation remains a threat, says Slate’s April Glaser.
SELLING: Good Karma Brands is buying Scripps’ radio stations in Milwaukee for $16 million, Scripps announced.
RESULTS: Arizona's governor has fired a state doctor after an investigation by NPR and The Center for Public Integrity into drug companies’ influence of state Medicaid programs. Here’s the original probe.
ONE LAST THING: She was one of seven laid off this week by Tronc at South Florida’s Sun Sentinel. But Emily Bloch couldn’t leave without dropping this story on three local politicians getting in trouble. Good luck, Emily!
More writing and editing tips:
Thanks to readers, who have really answered the call. Here are a few more bits of advice from veteran journalists:
From longtime writer and editor Bill Kline:
- Write for the reader, not the subject. You don't need to please the subject or to gain his or her approval.
- After you write the lede, go back and read it again. Is it really compelling? Does it really grab the reader's attention? Probably not, so try again, and this time with energy and passion. Believe in your reporting and what you are about to say.
- Always, always, always put yourself in the reader's shoes. What would the reader want to know? Need to know? Does it make sense? Will the reader clearly understand it?
From Tim Kelly, retired president and publisher and former editor, Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader:
One of our line editors at the Dallas Times Herald would say to reporters: "Don't tell me the story; write me the story. Go to your desk and write it as if you were telling it to me."
From Martin Kovacs, veteran radio/TV editor, Budapest:
I always advise my junior colleagues: "If you write a story and can't come up with the first sentence, do not struggle any longer: Just start with the second one."
On Poynter.org
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Fact-checkers caught in the middle as Brazil’s right wing goes after Facebook. By Daniel Funke
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McClatchy records another big revenue drop. By Rick Edmonds
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When fact-checkers are the subjects of misinformation. By Daniel Funke
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Have a great Monday.