Last Bad Words

An interesting discussion for the journalism wonks: if the last words are words you cannot say on broadcast radio and television or print in the family-friendly newspaper are they still newsworthy?

First, bad words.

When asked for any last words before execution Richard Wade Cooey responded "...you mother******s haven't paid attention to what I've had to say the past 22 years, why are you going to pay attention to what I have to say now." It isn't surprising to know that would be his final statement; Cooey never took responsibility for the kidnap, rape and murders of Dawn McCreery and Wendy Offredo during interviews in 2003 with the Beacon Journal's Phil Trexler or myself, and he didn't seem to have any remorse in his last interview with the Associated Press.

Behind the view of the story: this was one of the topics our reporter, Chris Keppler, was concerned about before heading down to Lucasville. What if those last words were nothing but profanity? How would we -- should we -- report for the record? Should his reporting of Cooey's statement exclude those words we won't say on the air out of deference to our audience and the threat of hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines? Does it glorify someone of Cooey's stature to give his vulgarity the same treatment we would a White House pronouncement?

Phil Trexler and Eric Mansfield, our colleagues at the Beacon Journal and WKYC Channel 3 News, must have had similar thoughts. These are words we hear often in the context of anger and hate, far too often...but not those we would share with friends and family back home. They carried the additional burden, as did Chris, of serving as witnesses for the media and charged with presenting what happened in Ohio's death chamber to the rest of the media waiting outside.

They were the record.

The concerns Chris had were appropriate and on the money; it was profane, it was something we would normally not report verbatim on the air, and like it or not it did get the treatment of a top story, even to the point of making national newscasts.

State executions in Ohio are still relatively rare enough to make the news, although certainly not at the level when they first resumed in 1999 with Wilford "The Volunteer" Berry. Summit County's Robert Buell died by lethal injection in 2002; their story and that of the victims of their crimes were and will continue to be news. We are an odd mix of readers, listeners and viewers when it comes to these stories: on the surface we don't want to be confronted by such evil, but we don't shy away from looking for these stories. In a world of grey the choices of right or wrong are never more stark than in capital cases, even as the debate continues on whether the death penalty is ever appropriate.

For our part in our newsroom, we decided it was important to frame what Cooey said as clearly as possible. Our Operations Manager ran into the room when Chris first filed his report on WAKR, saying the use of "M-F" was wrong. I disagree, and told Chris this morning it was appropriate since it conveyed the record of what happened -- the reason Chris was in Lucasville as a witness. His job was to act as the eyes and ears of those back home, and act as a filter only in the extreme. Not using the entire phrase verbatim was responsible, but somehow downplaying it as "expletive deleted" soft-peddles the evil killer without a soul portrayed by Wendy and Dawn's families.

It isn't pandering to report how and what he said, as clearly and honestly as we can without crossing that line. I tend to side on reporting the truth, and the truth is Richard Cooey left this world much as many of you reading this post expected -- a man condemned by more than a three judge panel.

I had a similar issue in 2006 when Glenn Benner was executed for the slayings of Cynthia Sedgwich in 1985 and Trina Bowser in 1986, but this time the profanity came from a family member who wasn't buying Benner's last words. As a pool reporter it was my job to report what I had seen and heard, which I did -- in true detail -- following the execution. For our reporting I noted the family had strong language but didn't cross the line of a verbatim report.

It wasn't my job to filter what was happening; we can leave that to pundits on news talk shows; as reporters it is our duty to report.