In early February, Daily Nebraskan news editor Andy Boyle noticed a story in the Omaha World-Herald about the governor's mansion being recommended for the National Register of Historic Places.
He thought to himself, that would make a nice feature story, especially if a tour of the governor's mansion could be arranged. He assigned the story to reporter Rachel Albin.
Albin, along with photographer Tomotoshi Funabashi, set up and then went on the tour. About two weeks ago, Albin wrote a story about the governor's mansion becoming historic, and she fired it off to the news desk.
The story's angle changed significantly after it first hit the editing desk, and Albin did considerably more reporting before any related story was printed in the paper.
But the above scenario is exactly how the Daily Nebraskan set up a tour of the governor's mansion. No one tricked their way into the mansion to try to get a juicy story, and no ethical barriers were breached.
For the record, this is how the governor's mansion piece morphed into a story that caused last week's controversy between the Daily Nebraskan and the governor's office:
Back in February, Albin waited for mansion officials to set up a tour for her and a photographer. In a casual conversation about the story, Albin's mother mentioned that the mansion hired some Department of Correctional Services inmates through a work-release program.
At the time, no Daily Nebraskan reporters or editors followed up on that lead.
Weeks later, during the tour, Albin asked the guide what his name was. That made sense, given that he was the guy leading the tour and explaining the historical significance of the mansion. Funabashi took photos of the mansion, a few of which included the guide.
Post-tour, reporter and photographer returned to the Daily Nebraskan newsroom, wrote the story and filed the photos.
While news editor Johnny Perez read Albin's story, she mentioned what her mother had said about inmates working at the mansion.
As Boyle suggested the work-release program might make for an interesting story itself, Perez typed the tour guide's name into the Department of Correctional Services online inmate locator.
At the time, I was in my cave-like office, removed from the news desk by a mere few feet. I was certainly close enough to hear Perez say something along the lines of, "Holy shit, is this the guy? I thought you said the program was only for nonviolent offenders."
I had no idea what he was talking about, and such outbursts are common in the Daily Nebraskan newsroom, so I didn't emerge until I was summoned a few minutes later.
By that time, a quick Google search had shown that Timothy Haverkamp was involved in the Rulo murders in the mid 1980s. It was not hard for Albin to confirm that the same Haverkamp was now giving tours at the governor's mansion.
At that point, the Daily Nebraskan's news desk and I agreed to hold off on the historic places story until Albin could do more reporting, specifically into the work-release program and Haverkamp.
The result of that additional reporting yielded the story, "Under the Radar," which ran on the front page of Thursday's Daily Nebraskan.
For whatever reason, the governor's office reacted to the story with paranoia, assuming the DN set up a tour of the governor's mansion under false pretenses.
That is simply not the case. No one at the Daily Nebraskan violated any principles of journalism ethics in reporting the Haverkamp story.
Consider this analogy.
You're a reporter, and your editor tells you to go to the state fair to cover a hotdog eating contest.
While covering the hotdog eating contest, you notice the Ferris wheel is broken but still operating. Do you ignore the Ferris wheel and focus on the hotdogs? Of course not; it would be entirely ethical to write about the broken Ferris wheel.
In addition to the deception charge, the governor's office pointed out that newspapers must get releases to photograph and talk with inmates. While I should have been more aware of that rule, the argument seems at least a little disingenuous.
Governor's mansion officials accompanied the Daily Nebraskan's reporter and photographer during the tour. They watched Albin talk to Haverkamp, and they watched Funabashi shoot photos. It would have been logical for them to suggest a release before the tour took place.
One last thing to clear up - the decision to run the Haverkamp story at all and to frame it as we framed it. Thus far, the only legitimate criticism of the story has revolved around this issue.
Obviously, this country's corrections system is built around the premise of rehabilitation. People who go through the system and pay their debt to society deserve some degree of privacy about their pasts. Additionally, work-release programs that ease inmates back into mainstream society are important tools of the system.
However, when a convicted murderer who was involved in one of the most heinously brutal crimes in modern Nebraska history is leading tours of the governor's mansion, that's news. At the very least, if violent offenders on work-release are allowed to work directly with the public, the public deserves to know.
Josh Swartzlander is a senior news-editorial major and editor in chief of the Daily Nebraskan. Reach him at joshswartzlander@dailynebraskan.com.
