Church in
Crisis Web
site sheds light on media fascination with abuse crisis
By THOMAS C. FOX
At 6 a.m. with the sun still rising, Bill Mitchell, a chipped
yellow Detroit Free Press coffee mug in right hand, is already at his
home computer scanning the Internet for the latest clergy abuse stories to
appear in morning papers across the nation.
Its only been eight hours since he last searched, shortly
before going to bed. Finding them, he dutifully copies their headlines, adds
the name of publication, the first few sentences, and links each to a Web site
he runs called the Clergy Abuse Tracker. It is hosted by the
Poynter Institute, a school for journalists in St. Petersburg, Fla., where
Mitchell is online editor/marketing director.
Mitchell, a former Detroit Free Press, Time magazine
and San Jose Mercury News editor, compiles and posts 20 or more stories
daily, mostly, but not all, from U.S. publications. They all end up on his
tracker Web site at www.poynter.org/clergyabuse/ca.htm. The
site also lists newspapers that have assembled clergy abuse archives and it
encourages online discussions of the issues raised by the unprecedented media
fascination with the story.
Mitchell said that searching the major dailies, a task he has done
since mid-March, takes about 45 minutes in the morning and 45 more at night. He
views his efforts as part media experiment, part service to journalists and
part service to the church. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and
recently an NCR board member, Mitchell is quick to note there is a down
side to his daily routine.
In some ways its a depressing experience to begin
every day looking at this kind of coverage, he said in a telephone
interview. But on the other hand, it serves everyone involved to shed as
much light on whats happening as possible.
Were not definitive, he added, explaining that
his Web site initially focused on the coverage appearing in the major dailies.
However, as word among journalists and others spread, reporters from smaller
publications, he said, began to contact him suggesting he post their stories as
well. Mitchell willingly obliges.
The clergy abuse tracker is actually a Web log, a
relatively new form of Internet publishing that provides regularly updated
information and links to other sites.
Print publications, he points out, necessarily filter information
as editors decide what gets into the paper. Mitchells tracker, on the
other hand, gathers information to let readers decide what to read. Mitchell
sees newspapers of the future increasingly integrating print with electronic
formats.
The days of eat-your-spinach journalism are over, said
Mitchell. Editors will continue to play a valuable gatekeeper role in
many respects, but more and more readers will figure out ways of gathering the
news and information they need on their own terms.
Close to 1,000 users approach the clergy abuse site daily; 700
have signed up for daily e-mail updates. Most of these users appear to be
journalists, but some are victim abuse advocates and the attorneys who
represent abuse victims.
In recent weeks, Mitchell has received help in his once-lonely
task. Several journalists now help him update the site. They do this through an
Internet tool called a blogger that allows a number of people from
various locations to manipulate Web sites.
Kathy Shaw, a veteran journalist at the Worcester Telegram and
Gazette, has recently begun to assist Mitchell. She heard about the clergy
abuse tracker through another journalist. First I started reading it,
then I contacted Bill Mitchell to have the Telegram and Gazette stories
posted, and the next thing I knew he invited me to be a volunteer
poster.
It is a great help to me professionally because I can get a
good grip on what is happening throughout the country on this issue. I begin to
see patterns developing, Shaw said. I have tried looking in the
smaller newspapers for abuse stories. It gives a different dimension to the
issue because we can clearly see the issue of clergy abuse is affecting the
entire Catholic church from the top on down to the tiniest parishes in the
smallest towns.
And what has Mitchell learned through the experience? He said
media coverage has been aggressive and impressive. He
does not believe, as several prominent bishops have charged, that the media is
out to get the church.
In the long run, said Mitchell, I think it will
turn out that the media has done the church a great service on this issue by
shedding light on the secret problems that have been eroding the churchs
credibility for so long.
Thomas C. Fox is NCR publisher. His e-mail address is
tfox@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, August 16,
2002
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