it seems the Carmel Pine Cone (recently purchased by an ultra-conservative) and News-Press have something in common...a drinking problem! face it..if you drink and drive, you're an idiotEditorial: How important is a DUI?
Published: May 15, 2009 Carmel Pine Cone
YOU MAY not have noticed it, but barring unusual circumstances, this newspaper doesn’t report the names of people who are arrested for driving under the influence.
In Carmel and surrounding communities, such arrests happen several hundred times a year. Quite a few prominent people have been arrested for DUI.
But unless there’s an accident, or the driver fights with the cops, or has an extraordinarily high blood alcohol content, or several DUIs on his record, we do not report his name.
That’s because, in our view, a DUI arrest is a relatively minor event that does not warrant the damage to a person’s reputation or career that publicity in the news media might bring.
Of course, some people would vehemently disagree with this. Some people see driving with a .08 percent blood alcohol level as a heinous offense to the community. They think anybody who gets behind the wheel with even a tiny amount of alcohol in his system deserves to be publicly humiliated, if not severely punished. But we have not covered DUI arrests this way. And, we note, neither have any of the other local news media. Almost without exception, The Monterey County Herald, KSBW, KCBA and other local outlets do not carry reports that "So-and-so was arrested for DUI last night ...."
So when a police report came into our newsroom two weeks ago that the superintendent of the Carmel Unified School District had been arrested for DUI, we handled it in the usual way.
Marvin Biasotti did not cause an accident, nor was he stopped for driving erratically or recklessly. He did not resist arrest or refuse a blood test. And he has no criminal record or prior arrests for DUI, as far as courthouse records show. Therefore, we did not report the simple fact of his arrest in The Pine Cone. Instead, we decided to wait to see if the school board would react to the arrest in some official way.
But, to our surprise, the Herald departed from its usual policy of not reporting DUI arrests. In fact, the Biasotti arrest has been treated like one of the biggest stories of the year by the Herald, with at least five news stories in three weeks, including three large stories on the front page. This was unprecedented coverage, to say the least, for an incident that resulted in no property damage or harm to any person.
Needless to say, the Herald’s extensive coverage must have caused a lot of distress for Biasotti, whose 29-year career at the school district had previously been unblemished. Added to the anguish and embarrassment of the arrest itself, he’s already paid a high price for his dinner and wine with other district officials — all without the results of his blood test being known, much less a verdict that he is guilty.
Last Friday, the school board decided to reprimand Biasotti for his arrest — certainly a newsworthy development, and we have a story about it on page 2 this week. But, unless his blood test shows something surprising, we still don’t think Biasotti’s DUI arrest was especially newsworthy. and that's how to enable a drunk....
Published: May 15, 2009 Carmel Pine Cone
YOU MAY not have noticed it, but barring unusual circumstances, this newspaper doesn’t report the names of people who are arrested for driving under the influence.
In Carmel and surrounding communities, such arrests happen several hundred times a year. Quite a few prominent people have been arrested for DUI.
But unless there’s an accident, or the driver fights with the cops, or has an extraordinarily high blood alcohol content, or several DUIs on his record, we do not report his name.
That’s because, in our view, a DUI arrest is a relatively minor event that does not warrant the damage to a person’s reputation or career that publicity in the news media might bring.
Of course, some people would vehemently disagree with this. Some people see driving with a .08 percent blood alcohol level as a heinous offense to the community. They think anybody who gets behind the wheel with even a tiny amount of alcohol in his system deserves to be publicly humiliated, if not severely punished. But we have not covered DUI arrests this way. And, we note, neither have any of the other local news media. Almost without exception, The Monterey County Herald, KSBW, KCBA and other local outlets do not carry reports that "So-and-so was arrested for DUI last night ...."
So when a police report came into our newsroom two weeks ago that the superintendent of the Carmel Unified School District had been arrested for DUI, we handled it in the usual way.
Marvin Biasotti did not cause an accident, nor was he stopped for driving erratically or recklessly. He did not resist arrest or refuse a blood test. And he has no criminal record or prior arrests for DUI, as far as courthouse records show. Therefore, we did not report the simple fact of his arrest in The Pine Cone. Instead, we decided to wait to see if the school board would react to the arrest in some official way.
But, to our surprise, the Herald departed from its usual policy of not reporting DUI arrests. In fact, the Biasotti arrest has been treated like one of the biggest stories of the year by the Herald, with at least five news stories in three weeks, including three large stories on the front page. This was unprecedented coverage, to say the least, for an incident that resulted in no property damage or harm to any person.
Needless to say, the Herald’s extensive coverage must have caused a lot of distress for Biasotti, whose 29-year career at the school district had previously been unblemished. Added to the anguish and embarrassment of the arrest itself, he’s already paid a high price for his dinner and wine with other district officials — all without the results of his blood test being known, much less a verdict that he is guilty.
Last Friday, the school board decided to reprimand Biasotti for his arrest — certainly a newsworthy development, and we have a story about it on page 2 this week. But, unless his blood test shows something surprising, we still don’t think Biasotti’s DUI arrest was especially newsworthy. and that's how to enable a drunk....
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