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June 20, 2009

Wilder story getting local, national looks

By DAVID A. MANN AND MATT THACKER

The story of Larry Wilder, the Jeffersonville City Council attorney who went out for a celebratory drink Tuesday night and woke up in his neighbor’s trash can Wednesday morning, has found its way from local to national media outlets.

Nearly all of the Louisville metro media outlets, including The Evening News, have published or broadcast stories on the incident. As of Friday morning, The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune ran an Associated Press version of the story. The incident even became the subject of conversation on “Fox & Friends,” a national morning show on Fox News Channel.

However, whether or not it’s a newsworthy story has become a public discussion locally.

“Finding the city council’s attorney sleeping off a night of revelry in a neighbor’s garbage can doesn’t rank up there with national health care or Korean nuclear weapons, but it is an interesting story of an advisor’s poor judgment,” said John P. Ferré, Ph.D., associate dean of arts & sciences and professor of communication at the University of Louisville. “It would be hard not to report that story.”

Jim St. Clair, head of the journalism program at Indiana University Southeast, said the story is hard to ignore because of the public nature of the person involved. Additionally, he said, if a media outlet were to ignore it, it could get grief for protecting someone in power.

“But, on the other hand, there’s far more important things to cover,” he said.

St. Clair said there is a public appetite for such stories, which has likely led to its nationwide spread. But he notes that it’s hard to know what comes first: the public’s interest or the media’s interest in the story.

“I think the media could probably be a little bit more careful and judicious with these types of stories and not make more of it than it really is,” said St. Clair, who identifies himself as a media defender and critic.

The public sees the result, but doesn’t get a chance to hear the discussion about whether or not such an item is newsworthy, he said.

“You just don’t do these things because you want to,” St. Clair said. “You make tough choices.”

Larry Thomas, a former Evening News reporter who’s now communications director for the city of Jeffersonville, said his primary concern throughout the incident has been making sure the information being discussed is accurate.

Thomas said reporters would call his office and, within the first 35 seconds of the interview, repeat several untrue rumors about the incident.

“At least one [TV] news outlet misreported [Wilder’s] position with the city,” said Thomas, noting that it called him a city attorney, not the city council attorney.

When he brought that correction to the station’s attention, its response was that it all comes from the same pot of money, he said.

Thomas called it “one situation where a whole lot of attention wasn’t paid to precision.”

As to the proliferation of the story, Thomas said, “I don’t know why someone in Chicago or Atlanta or Los Angeles would care.”

For his part, Wilder himself said it’s time to put the story to rest.

“Those folks who think they gained some piece of enjoyment from this, I hope they’ve enjoyed,” Wilder said.

“I think that those individuals who have chosen to revel in my embarrassment are certainly satisfied with what they’ve achieved, so they should be happy with what they’ve achieved.

“I accept my responsibility for being less than smart for what I did.”

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