By Jack Thomas, Boston Globe Staff, 12/08/97
In the weeks after bicycle courier Jonathan Gladstone slammed into Boston banker William Spring on Commonwealth Avenue, The Boston Globe has been pilloried on a local Web site by cyclists who believe that the newspaper collaborated with police to blame the courier.
What made the Web crackle was a Nov. 7 story by Beth Daley: ''Outcry over bicycle couriers - civic leader still in coma.''
David Adams of Arlington called it a witch hunt: ''My understanding is that her original article was balanced, but editors ignored facts ... in order to blame cyclists.''
What appealed to readers about the story was not only the reminder that nobody is safe from random violence, but also the drama of a wealthy banker and a humble courier and their appointment with fate. Also, the use of the Internet as a forum for discussing the accident, including the role of the Globe, is another example of shifting patterns of communication. Although Gladstone declined to be interviewed by the Globe, he signed onto the Web and gave details that were graphic and gruesome.
But tragedies occur every day. How did this one escalate into a debate about the newspaper's honesty? Based on an examination of the police report and on interviews with more than a dozen people, including Police Commissioner Paul Evans, Spring's family, and reporters and editors at the Globe, here is what happened.
Eight days after the accident, Daley was assigned to update the story, focusing on couriers and safety.
''I telephoned the police spokeswoman, Detective Sergeant Margot Hill,'' says Daley, ''and she told me Spring had been jaywalking. I asked her again, and she repeated that he was walking against the light.''
Later, Daley raised the point with a representative of the Spring family who said it was not true. Daley called Hill and says Hill confirmed the jaywalking. At about the same time, Gladstone returned Daley's call, but he declined to be quoted.
''I told him the story would be harsh on couriers,'' recalls Daley, ''but would acknowledge what police had said - that Gladstone had the light, that Spring had been jaywalking.''
Confiding that fact proved to be a mistake, for the information would end up on the local Web site and lead some people to assume a conspiracy between the Globe and the police. At about 6 o'clock, Daley submitted her story.
Now, William Spring's wife, Micho, was a deputy mayor to Kevin White. She knows how to use the telephone, and having been alerted to the possible publication of what she thought was erroneous information, she made calls to the police commissioner and to editors at the newspaper. She got results. An hour later, Daley received a call from Sergeant Hill, saying the earlier statement had been wrong, that the investigation was not complete, that police did not know if Spring had jaywalked.
An examination of the police report confirms that Spring was in the crosswalk, so even if the cyclist had the light, Spring had the crosswalk and was probably not jaywalking.
''In this state,'' said Evans in an interview, ''if you are in the crosswalk, you have the right of way.''
Daley alerted Sean Murphy, the metropolitan editor, to the change in the police statement, and he decided to alter the story.
''If Hill withdraws what she said, we have to abide by that,'' said Murphy. ''She's giving us the official police position, and the story was edited to reflect that.''
Murphy denied he was pressured by senior editors.
''I made a news judgment,'' he said. ''Short of our own investigation, I'm going to accept the final assertion of the Boston police on its own investigation.''
Evans, meanwhile, says he confronted Sergeant Hill and that she denied saying Spring was jaywalking.
''She disputes that, so it becomes a case of my guys against your guys. But at that stage, any facts would have been premature and speculation.''
Micho Spring says the truth is in the police report.
''According to that and to eyewitnesses who've called me, Bill was struck in the crosswalk by a bicyclist going full speed with no headlights after dark. All the solidarity these (cyclists) feel is not going to change that.''
The lesson?
Reporters ought to resist the temptation to confide the contents of their stories before publication. The result in this case was that erroneous information ended up in cyberspace, and once that genie's out of the bottle, it can never be contained.
The ombudsman represents the readers [in theory only.] His conclusions and opinions are his own. His phone number is 929-3020, or leave a message at 929-3022. E-mail address: ombud@globe.com.
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