There are journalists who long for stories like this. They seek them out, yearn for them, like some sort of junkie dying for the next fix.
And when Plant City Police Chief Steven Singletary was suspended last week without much of an explanation from city officials, those journalists swooped into our quiet town. They knocked on the doors of private citizens. They stole images from Facebook pages. They shoved cameras in people’s faces.
This week, when investigators revealed their findings regarding the affair, they returned for their thumb drives full of all the sordid details and fled town as fast as they could, without a care in the world about what kind of damage their work would create.
For the record: I loathe these kinds of stories. But, as a news source, I know the Plant City Times & Observer must cover them. We have an obligation to you to present an accurate reflection of your hometown. That obligation governs every decision our editorial staff makes.
Still, that doesn’t mean we did not endure our share of criticism. Some readers put us through the ringer when we didn’t reveal the reasons for Singletary’s suspension last week. Another reader claimed we were biased because we didn’t publish the details about the affair before they were confirmed by city officials.
“(Because) everyone in town knows the reason, why won’t (you) publish it?” the reader chided. “You can put disclaimers on it, but I find it hard to believe you will get sued over the truth. Let’s see this independent, unbiased news-reporting!”
And still another was particularly upset because we were reporting anything at all.
“It was poor reporting, of course, but I was angrier that you were reporting it at all,” the reader said to me.
In the wake of ours and others’ coverage of this story, I am compelled to explain to you the decisions we made during the last two weeks.
We learned of this story nearly a week before Singletary’s suspension — including all the details regarding the affair. At that time — before the city made any sort of action — like many of you, we determined this was not newsworthy. This was something that needed to stay out of the press, between the private parties involved.
That changed Friday, Jan. 17, when city officials placed Singletary on paid suspension. With that action, it now affected the residents of Plant City. We released the information the city was willing to provide.
And nothing more.
If the investigation had concluded with Singletary returning to his post, then there would have been no reason to have his indiscretions published in our paper. It would have been none of our business.
Unfortunately, investigators concluded Singletary abused his power as police chief and violated several code of conduct items to participate in the affair. At that point, it becomes a taxpayer issue. And, yes, it is a matter we deemed newsworthy.
Even still, as you read our complete story, you will notice some differences between ours and those of other news outlets. You won’t find the sleazy details here that were made public through the investigation. We refused to publish the text messages between the parties involved. And, we did not print unnecessary details, such as children’s names or places of employment, of the families involved.
For that, you will have to go elsewhere.
Unlike the swarm that descended on Plant City two weeks ago, we did not high-tail it back to Tampa after we got our scoop. We live here. We shop here. We are members of this community. We love Plant City, and we take seriously our commitment to provide you with a paper that publishes its information in an accurate and responsible manner.