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Herald questions Walsh "news," belatedly

By Mark Obbie

When police in Florida two weeks ago announced they were closing the investigation into the murder of Adam Walsh, I criticized news coverage in general for playing along with a publicity stunt. But I did at least give a positive shout out to David Smiley of the Miami Herald for recounting the history that put the cops' announcement in its proper context. Now, Smiley and the Herald have shown more independence, recounting in this Sunday story what makes the investigators' sudden confidence questionable. The story is a laundry list of doubts about the chief suspect, the deceased serial killer Ottis Toole. The story would be stronger and more interesting if it explored related questions, such as:

• What are the typical procedures for closing an investigation under these circumstances, and did Hollywood police follow them?
• What role did the Walsh family play in the run-up to the announcement?
• Who benefits from closing the case, and what is the real point?

Without reporting out those elements from a number of perspectives, I have to wonder why it took the Herald nearly two weeks to add one critic's quote and several grafs of details from its archives to the skepticism that was peeking through in its coverage of the Dec. 16 press conference.

Full post as published by Lawbeat on December 29, 2008 (boomark / email).