By Catie DeVenuto
WAVE 3 news had an article about the former Bullitt County Special Deputy indicted on Drug Charges. The article was written by Laurel Mallory and was very deficient in the 10 rules and 7 yardsticks of journalism.
The article violates the Verification rule, analyzation rule, and fairness rule.
Something that was missing from the article was Chris Mattingly's side of the story. Mallory only referred to what was said by the Bullitt County Sheriffs Office and there were no direct quotes from any officials. The information was not clearly verified. The only source named was Mike Murdoch with the Sheriffs Office.
"Christopher Mattingly, 27, was indicted by grand jury on Sept. 1, accused of helping to put more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana onto the streets. That amount is equivalent to just under 2,205 pounds."
Where did this information come from? Was there an arrest warrant or report? Which agency issued the warrant? How was this information verified?
Many things were unclear in the article. The story was minimized due to lack of reliable information. There was no explanation of what happened.
What would happen to Chris Mattingly if he was found guilty of the charges?
This seems like a minimal report. WAVE 3 was trying to catch up to WDRB who had exclusive details on the story.
This same story was covered by WDRB's Valerie Chinn. Her package on the story was very detailed and Chinn helped make sense of all the information being presented to the public. She also did well explaining the police reports.
Chinn's story was a classic example of watchdog journalism. Chris Mattingly was a Special Deputy and his job was to protect the people and keep their trust. Mattingly took advantage of his position and abused his power. Thanks to journalists like Valerie Chinn, society's political figures wrong doings can be brought to justice.
Chinn was also very fair in her package. She did well getting statements from Mattingly's attorney, friends, and family. She also got the police report and represented their point of view.
Chinn made the important interesting by adding graphics which helps people better understand the information.
After reaching out to Valerie Chinn, she says that WAVE 3 has conflicting information regarding the dates that Mattingly was a Special Deputy. According to WDRB, who cites Bullitt County Sheriff, Mattingly was a Special Deputy until September 2014. WAVE 3 does not verify where they got their information claiming that Mattingly was a Special Deputy from December 2011 till September 2012.
Excellent critique.
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