When Is A Story A Story?

Beginning on Thursday, there were several stories in Nevada newspapers about the rumor that Governor Gibbons’ marriage to Dawn Gibbons was in trouble. Of course, Thursday was the day after Hugh Jackson (Las Vegas Gleaner) and Ken Layne (Wonkette) blogged about the rumor that one of the Gibbons’ had filed for divorce, a story soon picked up by other Nevada bloggers Wednesday night. By Thursday, Anjeanette Damon of the Reno Gazette-Journal got a statement from Governor Gibbons’ officer Dianne Cornwall indicating that a Gibbons family meeting was planned for this weekend to discuss the future of the Governor’s marriage.

So just what have we learned from this blogging rumor turned legitimate news story? We have learned that, according to some Nevada political journalists, a story is a story once they have the wisdom to cover it.

Jon Ralston of the Las Vegas Sun:

With the mainstream media doing the right thing and not publishing anything about rumors, Gov. Jim Gibbons’ chief operating officer, Dianne Cornwall, decided to go on the record with the Reno Gazette-Journal on Thursday. (emphasis mine)

And there was more from Ralston on Sunday morning:

The easy part for the media is over. We decided it was a story that Cornwall says the couple is having marital strife.

Unfortunately for the Ralston and other self-professed wise journalists, Anjeanette Damon begs to differ:

You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t used this space to chronicle the saga of the Gibbons’ potential divorce. There are a couple of reasons for that. One, until yesterday, I didn’t have the story nailed down. Two, I have no intention of dribbling out morsels of gossipy detail, rumor or speculation on the first couple’s marital turmoil here.

That said, what is transpiring between the governor and his wife is news. Yes, a divorce can distract from the business of steering the state through troubled waters. Yes, the Gibbons’ are public figures by virtue of the fact Nevadans voted Jim Gibbons into the state’s highest office. Yes, a divorce can eliminate the position of first lady, which in this case could impact critical public policy issues such as methamphetamine abuse and autism treatment. And, yes, as is the case with all stories that we cover, our duty is to cover this with the utmost dignity and professionalism.

For those reasons, I have spent the week reporting this story. I can tell you that I was not the only one. Most, if not all, political reporters for the major newspapers in this state were working it. And the longer the story went unreported, the more absurd some of the rumors became.

Some in the Fourth Estate have heaped criticism upon the governor’s chief operating officer Dianne Cornwall, who made comments confirming his marital troubles. I’ll let readers judge those criticisms for themselves. But it should be known that I initiated the conversations that led to those comments. She was responding to questions that I had posed and the arguments that I and my editor had made for answering them. She did not call me out of the blue to issue a statement.

On another point, I don’t want anyone to have the misimpression that those bloggers who reported the rumors have the ultimate power to force my or any other journalist’s hand as we pursue a story. In this case, one blogger printed the rumors we had all been hearing. Another printed something completely inaccurate. And if these were simply rumors with no grounding in reality whatsoever, you can bet I wouldn’t run to the governor’s office and demand they refute what was posted just so that I could reprint those rumors in the newspaper.

The fact is this was not just talk. Not just speculation. Not just gossip. The story is solid. Does that mean the couple will ultimately divorce or separate? No. Papers have not been filed and anything can happen from here on out. But what has been reported is solid. And talk about it was so widespread that it had reached a point where the newspaper risked looking as if we were ignoring it for some purposeful reason. Readers need to trust that we will pursue stories that matter to them and that we will not ignore a story for some perceived political reason. And readers need to trust we will not pry into a couple’s private matters simply for prurient interests. So far, I hope that I and my colleagues in the Fourth Estate have honored those principles to the best of our abilities. (emphasis mine)

As Damon notes, this Nevada governor’s martial problems are news because he was elected to office surrounded by a sexual scandal involving a woman other than his wife. (and one the press seemed to at first give him a pass on as well). Besides, any divorce filing by a sitting governor would surely be covered by every political journalist in the state–to pretend otherwise is silly. State archivist Guy Rocha has confirmed that the divorce of a sitting governor is “precedent setting” in and of itself.

So its time for other Nevada political journalists to stop writing about the trauma covering this story has caused them and cover it as Damon has done and continues to. Most citizens are weary of journalists deciding what is newsworthy and what isn’t–the public knows what’s news and if Nascar results and celebrity gossip are considered newsworthy by Nevada newspapers, than surely the potential divorce of the state’s scandal-ridden governor qualifies.

And as to Ralston’s question at the end of his Sunday column–I don’t think anyone expects journalists to become a marriage counselors.

Similar Posts:

• Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons Filing for Divorce?
• Its Family Meeting Time
• Governor Gibbons Is Wagging The Dog

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