EDITORIAL – Corpus delicti

In journalism, to kill a story requires first and foremost a story to kill. If there is no story, then there is nothing to kill. To claim having killed a story, when no such story was at hand is, to say the least, wishful thinking.

On the other hand, The FREEMAN did have a story to kill for last June 11. It was about the NBI having arrested the suspected killer of lawyer Richard Sison. It was the only paper to have the story. Simply put, it scored a scoop. But with the good feeling came a little scorn.

To set the record straight and put an unfair innuendo to rest, the NBI never requested The FREEMAN to either kill or hold the story in deference to a follow-up operation it was set to conduct the night the story was written.

None of the senior editors of the paper, who are the persons in authority to act on such requests, in case they ever come, ever received any communication, in whatever form, from the NBI requesting an embargo of the story.

It has to be admitted, though, that The FREEMAN was aware of a follow-up operation that was to be conducted the night the story was written. In fact, the story mentioned it, along with particular details of what the NBI follow-up operation was to entail.

Still, even without an NBI request, our editors did weigh the matter carefully and decided, correctly, that running the story would not jeopardize an operation that was to be for that night. For by the time the paper hits the streets in the morning, it shall have been over.

The FREEMAN does not interfere with the way others do their work. Neither is it in its character to denigrate the legitimate achievements of others. Having been in the news business for almost a century has taught us that noble lessons are best learned in quiet dignity.

But quiet dignity is not synonymous with suffering in silence. If misimpressions need to be corrected, they must, in the interest of fair play, and for the sake of those who entrusted their confidence in us.