Please Release Me!

Everyone knows the Five Ws (Who, What, When, Where, Why) and H (how), right?

But I'm not going to sit here and say I expect a trained law enforcement official to be thinking all that clearly about that at 4 a.m., when a press release is the last thing between them and a soft, warm bed

So here are some examples, from a Bend PD release done at that ... wee hour of the morning. It talked of a restaurant robbery, and included the victim's name - something Bend police do, but newspapers do NOT include, usually, unless the person was injured and we need to tell their condition, etc.

This release told that a gunman had entered the restaurant, confronted the employee "and demanded she give him money. The suspect then left the business through a back door..."

Two things missing there - ones we can ASSume as reporters, but dare not: Did the worker GIVE him any money? (I know they usually say "undisclosed amount of cash" - that's fine, but at least make that clear!) And ... was she hurt? No, of course not, the release would have said. Still ... a good reporter will feel far more comfortable (and not need to reach for the phone) ... if it makes CLEAR that the worker was/was not injured.

It might have taken the lieutenant five minutes more to add that. But ... the recipient would feel that much more comfortable about not ASSuming anything.