A 10-year-old mother and the media circus

Editorial appeared in the May 10, 2008 Standard Journal as part of the Our View section.

Unless you've been hiding out in a closet or scuba diving in the Arctic for the past week, you've likely heard of the 10-year-old St. Anthony mother.

It's a disturbing story, one that fills upper valley residents with pity for the girl and anger toward the father, who police say is a 37-year-old man.

Unfortunately, the story has gotten worse.

On Thursday, we ran an article with the headline, “Child giving birth officially unverified.” It wasn't that we didn't believe the story – at the time, we just didn't have a solid source for the details. And neither did the TV media.

Officials who should have at least said true or false to the story were tight-lipped on the matter, giving concern for the mother as their reason for silence.

So local stations instead got their information for the following individuals: “several sources,” a “credible source” and “sources close to the Fremont County Sheriff's Office.”

In other words, the media were so eager to thrust this incredible story into the public eye that they forgot to be credible. And that, combined with authorities' overzealous privacy concerns, created the perfect tabloid storm.

Students know the feeling. A big paper is due, and information is scarce on the topic. You scrape. You include irrelevant details. Words are elastic, and sentences are rubber bands. Voilà! You've passed.

Stretching a story isn't too different. For instance, some stations have talked to the neighbors of the suspect, Guadalupe Gutierrez-Juarez, which on the surface isn't objectionable. But this isn't the first time upper valley law enforcement and courts have dealt with adults accused of having sexual relations with children. In such cases, have reporters swarmed the streets for the nitty-gritty on alleged pedophiles? Have they spread rumors about what cellmates think of the accused? Have they hinted at the victim's weight? If not then, why now?

The only thing that should make this situation different is its biological twist.

Gutierrez-Juarez is being tried for the same actions countless others have taken. As with any other case, no matter how despicable the charges, he is innocent until proven guilty.

A 10-year-old giving birth – which has since been confirmed by Fremont Sheriff Ralph Davis – is indeed disturbing, and it is a story our community needs to hear. But it should be handled with kid gloves, out of concern for the mother, the baby and justice.

We don't want to wag fingers. We don't want to stand on a holier-than-thou soapbox. But we run a newspaper, not a rumorpaper.

Credible sources have names.

Our View represents the majority opinion of the Standard Journal editorial board.