July 27, 2005 8:26 PM
Don't always believe attacks on press
One day the city learned from the Rocky of a confession from an accused cop killer to his girlfriend. The next day the Post reported that she had told its reporter that she had never said what she told us.
Then, almost two months later, came a court hearing, and the truth came out. The Rocky had accurately reported her account all along.
I don't think it's pointed out often enough when it's not the news media that's wrong, despite what a source says. In this case the Rocky was alone in having it right originally. It was a banner story. The next day, other news organizations seemed to make a big deal of how our story might have been wrong.
This is an example of why you shouldn't be too quick to believe attacks on newspapers, especially when they're accused of making things up. Despite what some think, that's not a part of any newsroom culture I know.
Follow the sequence through the following links.
This was the May 11 banner story in the Rocky that started it all off.
Then, the Post published a story on May 12, which is not available in its archive for some reason, refuting our story.
Here are the key paragraphs of the page 1 story, as found on a pdf of the Post's May 12 edition.
"Rivas denied that she had told the Rocky Mountain News that her boyfriend had confessed to shooting both officers, as the newspaper reported Wednesday.
"He never told me what happened," Rivas told The Post. "I just want him to come home; he's the father of my baby."
Rocky Mountain News managing editor Deb Goeken said Rivas told a reporter in the presence of a photographer that her boyfriend had confessed.
"She did tell our reporter that," Goeken said. "He's got the notes.. He was there. She was very clear about what she said."
Almost two months later, in early July, the Rocky's original confession story was confirmed.
Here's what the Post said on July 8. See the bold-face paragraphs at the very end of their story.
Paper: Denver Post, The (CO)
Title: Gomez-Garcia was angry at cop - Hearing details alleged promise ``to go back and shoot''
Author: Sean KellyDenver Post Staff Writer
Date: July 8, 2005
Section: DENVER AND WEST
Page: B-01
Accused cop-killer Raul Gomez-Garcia shouted obscenities and told friends he was going to shoot a Denver police officer after he was barred from entering a baptism party, the lead detective on the case said Thursday.
Police said Gomez-Garcia left, returned with a gun and started firing at off-duty Detectives Donnie Young and Jack Bishop.
"Gomez-Garcia was very upset," said homicide Detective Martin Vigil. "Raul Gomez-Garcia was espousing that he was going to go back and shoot the officer."
New details on the shootings came Thursday in a preliminary hearing for Jaime Arana-del Angel, 27, charged as an accessory after-the-fact to the May 8 first-degree murder of Young and to the attempted murder of Bishop.
Arana-del Angel, in interviews with police, said he helped Gomez-Garcia after the shootings out of fear and a desire to help his friend's family, with whom he had been living.
"He said he felt obligated because he was living with the family and he was just trying to assist the family more than he was assisting Mr. Gomez-Garcia," Vigil said.
Gomez-Garcia, 20, was arrested in Culiacán, Mexico, last month. He awaits extradition in a Mexican prison.
The country refuses to extradite its citizens if they face the death penalty or life in prison without parole. Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey has charged Gomez-Garcia with second-degree murder and attempted murder, charges that could carry up to 96 years in a Colorado prison.
Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for Morrissey, said officials are making progress in compiling the extradition paperwork by an Aug. 3 deadline.
The charges against Arana-del Angel allege that he knew Gomez-Garcia had been involved in the shootings. Arana-del Angel faces up to 12 years in prison.
In sworn testimony Thursday, Detective Vigil said Gomez-Garcia was barred by Young from entering the party at Salon Ocampo, 1733 W. Mississippi Ave. He left but later returned, ambushing the two officers, according to police.
Young was hit once in the head and twice in the side. Bishop was hit once in the back but a bulletproof vest stopped the shot. Six shell casings were found at the scene.
Bishop never saw who shot him, but pulled his gun and tried to locate the shooter. Gomez-Garcia fled, the detective said, and went to the South Vrain Street home he shared with his common-law wife, her infant daughter, her family and Arana-del Angel.
Arana-del Angel told investigators that Gomez-Garcia said he shot the officers but "didn't mean" to kill Young. He said he helped dig a hole in the backyard and watched as Gomez-Garcia buried the gun's magazine and ammunition. They have not been found.
Later that day, Arana-del Angel said he bought a map at a 7-Eleven store, helped Gomez-Garcia with gas money, drove with him to the Western Slope town of Parachute and pointed the illegal immigrant toward California.
Vigil also said Gomez-Garcia confessed to his common-law wife shortly before he fled the state.
"Forgive me," Gomez-Garcia allegedly told her. "It was me."
Staff writer Sean Kelly can be reached at 303-820-1858 or skelly@denverpost.com.
Author: Sean KellyDenver Post Staff Writer
Section: DENVER AND WEST
Page: B-01
Copyright 2005 The Denver Post Corp.
August 5, 2005
10:30 AM
Jonah Johansen writes:
In a vast majority of stories, in a vast majority of newspapers are factual and un-biased. The problem is with that tiny minority of reports which are not.
Despite claims to the contrary, there is not an effective process to expose and correct such reports. It is this failure of internal controls which fuels political blogs(people want all the facts not just the ones filitered through the biases of reporters and editors).
The chronic problem is the use of foxes to watch the hen house.
For example CNN's response to claims of liberal bias in the news is to hire two liberals, Kurtz and Kalb, to investigate and assure us there is no liberal bias. The most common charade is to hire a "ombudsman", who invariably shares the same bias and mind set as the rest of the newsroom
Any news organization that wishes to report the news straight can do so, there just has to be the political will to do so.
During breakfast on any given day, I can go through the Rocky and find an average of 3 or 4 clear cases of factual inaccuracy, questionable journalism and/or obvious slant. (These are not obscure nit picking problems) It is clear to me that no one at the Rocky actually reads the papers news and news features sections with a red pen each day.
In addition, despite claims to the contrary there is no mechanism for a reader to have any one in authority; take responsibility for obvious cases of misreporting or bias.
Most people I know who want the facts, look at newspapers and network news not as a source of information, but rather as a spin barometer. We turn on the nightly news or open our morning papers, simply to find out what spin the media is putting on the story.