![\"130313Loomis\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/130313Loomis.jpg\")
March 13, 2013<\/p>\nMarch 13, 2013<\/p>\n
In researching his master\u2019s thesis, \u201cModern Witch Hunts: How Media Have Mishandled Ritual Child-Sex-Abuse Cases,\u201d UNC Chapel Hill journalism student David O. Loomis focused on the inadequate coverage provided by the weekly Chowan Herald in Edenton.<\/p>\n
\u201cNorth Carolina law,\u201d Loomis acknowledged, \u201cprohibits official disclosure of information about ongoing criminal investigations. Under the circumstances, gathering information about questionable interrogations conducted in therapy sessions would be a difficult and complex undertaking for a small reporting staff on a tight budget….\u201d<\/p>\n
The comments he elicited from Jack D. Grove, former managing editor of the Herald, reflect the challenge stories such as Little Rascals present tiny newsrooms \u2013 and the severely limited guidance they are able to make available to readers in forming opinions:<\/p>\n
On his journalistic experience<\/strong>: \u201cI was never a professional reporter.\u201d<\/p>\n On being almost three months behind the Elizabeth City Advance in starting to cover the story<\/strong>: \u201cIn a small town like Edenton, reputations are at stake. Reputations are everything in a small town.\u201d<\/p>\n On relations with prosecutors and police<\/strong>: \u201cThe district attorney became our prime source…. I didn\u2019t ask questions of the Police Department at all, because I knew what the answers were going to be…. I did ask Brenda Toppin, who I did not know was lead investigator, but I got an uncharacteristic cold shoulder. She said, \u2018I can\u2019t comment on an ongoing investigation.\u2019 That was interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n On the newsroom budget<\/strong>: \u201cI could only make long-distance calls when the boss would let me. He never refused. But he had to approve.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0On outside pressure<\/strong>: \u201cI was approached by several influential businessmen who clouded up and rained all over me for putting a (Little Rascals) story on the back page. I said, \u2018Go tell Pete Manning (the publisher), don\u2019t tell me.\u2019 These businessmen, almost all parents of Little Rascals children, went into a closed-door meeting with Pete. We never again had a story anywhere but on the front page after that.\u201d<\/p>\n