Shooting of Local Judge “First to Publish” Race Shows What’s Wrong With News Media (Opinion)

HAGERSTOWN, MD (10/20/2023) – The past 24 hours, I’ve grown increasingly disgusted with local and national news media coverage of the shooting death of Judge Andrew Wilkinson. In the rush to “be first” to publish information about the incident, all ethics appear to have been thrown out the window, all regard for innocent people being affected completely disregarded, and all-around all sense of human decency completely shredded.

Often in news media, we’re presented with breaking information by insider sources. However, we don’t always publish this information immediately because it needs to be verified, and also the timing of the release of the information needs to be considered. However, in the race to get website clicks and ad views, news media has been throwing caution to the wind in the name of the almighty dollar.

Recently I had the opportunity to chat with a local resident who asked me why we don’t post news articles on a daily basis. Not only do we work on RFHC only part-time, but we also focus on quality over quantity. I’d rather write one good article per week than twenty articles per day. Do we miss including stories this way, or not be the first to break a story? Quite often. However, I’d rather miss stories than cut corners.

After the tragedy of last night, a local blogger as well as a regional news station released information regarding the suspected identity of Judge Wilkinson’s assailant as Pedro Argote, from Frederick, MD. This information was released before any law enforcement agency made a public statement, potentially harming efforts to locate Argote. How? Simple – as soon as information hit the news with Argote’s identity, he likely started taking additional steps to keep from being apprehended, including possibly switching vehicles or changing his appearance.

Unfortunately, the damage doesn’t stop there. Not only did a news agency then publish the address and a photo of Argote’s home in Frederick, other news agencies have now started publishing details about the divorce and custody battle between Argote and the mother of his children. Now to be upfront, RFHC had been provided all of these details, including Argote’s identity and domestic issues. We chose not to publish these details, because much of this information was given to us in confidence, as well as the simple fact that we did not feel it appropriate to drag Argote’s family into this terrible tragedy, or feel it appropriate to potentially interfere with law enforcement efforts to locate Argote.

I often see jokes about attorneys being “ambulance chasers”, going after the latest emergency just to make a quick dollar. If in news media we refuse to have some shred of decency when it comes to situations like this, are we really any different?

We’re outsiders here at RFHC when it comes to journalism. Not a single one of us studied journalism or communications, and in fact we come from diverse backgrounds outside of the news media. And you know, maybe that’s a good thing, because we always take time to weigh the community impact of any story we run before we run it. We have likely declined more stories than we’ve published, and we’ve probably missed ad revenue dollars in the process. But you know what, that’s okay. At the end of the day, I know that what we’ve published is fair, balanced, and well vetted, and I can sleep at night because of it.

Ken Buckler is President and Managing Editor of Radio Free Hub City. All opinions are his own and do not reflect those of our sponsors or clients.