Last month, Fargo police arrested two women on prostitution charges during the department's first such "sting" operation in more than 60 years.
Police worked out of a Fargo motel room, where they said they met the women on separate occasions and made the arrests. Afterward, police issued a press release that requested media not publish or broadcast the name of the motel, which cooperated in the sting.
A couple of weeks ago in this space, I asked readers how they'd handle that request.
Reaction was mixed and along these lines:
A reader named Jeff sent me this e-mail:
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"I would have put the name of the motel in the paper. As you wrote in the paper, it has been almost 60 years since a case such as this has been broken and no one is going to think ill of a motel because it happened in one of their rooms. In your paper you have put names, addresses, pictures of people and their homes so why should this be any different?
"For example, in a drug case, no one is going to think bad of a rental company because one of their rental units was used in a drug deal."
A man named Henry, however, had a different take on it.
"I can see no benefit in naming the motel involved. They did not appear culpable in any way. ... What purpose would it serve?"
Editors in our newsroom also had conflicting views.
One of our top editors took the name out of the first news story. His rationale, much the same as Henry's, was the motel could get a bad name -- an unjust reputation for being a sort of vixen's den -- because it cooperated with the police in the sting. Instead of naming the motel, the copy was changed to give the motel's general location.
After the story appeared, we discussed our policy for "naming names" in cases like this. A day or so later, we published a story about a man who received a jail sentence for dealing meth out of a "downtown Fargo" hotel room, where he was arrested by police.
The reporter put the name of the hotel in the story; an editor who wasn't party to our earlier conversation about our policy took the name out. His rationale: We didn't publish the name of the motel in the prostitution arrest.
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See where this is taking us?
Yes, right down that slippery slope.
News reporters are taught to report the "who, what, why, where, when and how." This is basic information for our stories; it's what readers expect. Once we start tiptoeing around the facts, we open ourselves up to all kinds of inconsistencies and second-guessing.
The prostitution case is set for trial. The motel's name probably will come up in testimony. Do we not report the name of the motel after it is heard in open court, based upon the request by police?
If we go along with the police request, what's not to keep readers from thinking that we're acting as their agents?
No, our job is to put public information into the newspaper and not to keep it out.
Sure, there are exceptions, such as how we handle the names of victims of sexual attacks.
But in the two cases cited above, the motel and downtown hotel are part of those stories. I believe readers are savvy enough to keep the involvement of the businesses in these incidents in the proper perspective.
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In one case, the motel was the alleged "scene of the crime" because it cooperated with police in the sting. In the other case, the hotel was unsuspectingly drawn into the crime.
We discussed the prostitution arrests Tuesday during our monthly luncheon with our Readers' Board.
Elsewhere in this section, you'll see we have a story on our campaign to recruit new members for our Board.
During the last three years, North Dakotans from Casselton, Oakes, Amenia, Hunter, West Fargo and Fargo have served on the board, along with Minnesotans from Audubon, Rothsay, Fergus Falls and Moorhead.
It seems we always have lively discussion over news decisions and ethics during our one-hour meetings.
Today's story tells you how to apply.
Here's hoping you consider it.
Ziegler can be reached at lziegler@forumcomm.com
