You won’t see cops and courts reporter Josh Farley’s byline the early part of this week, and we’re pretty proud of the reason why.
Josh flew to New York City Sunday, and for the past two days has taken part in the 6th annual Harry Frank Guggenheim Symposium on Crime in America at John Jay College of Criminal Law. The symposium is for journalists, legislators, policymakers and scholars to discuss issues surrounding criminal justice. Josh is one of just 26 newspaper, magazine and television reporters who were invited through a fellowship offered by the school’s Center on Media, Crime and Justice, most of whom come from larger news outlets than the Kitsap Sun.
If you pay attention to Josh’s work you won’t be surprised at his recognition, of course. He’s the main reporter for our Code 911 section and covers criminal cases, and also delves into broader stories about criminal justice, public safety and legal issues on a regular basis.
Part of what earned Josh the fellowship was the story idea that he and local news editor Kim Rubenstein submitted as part of his application. Fellows were asked to explain an ongoing reporting project or a planned investigation that would match with one of the conference’s topics.
The story pitched — which Josh is required to follow through on, so you’ll see it soon enough — surrounds the courts and social media. We published a story in October during the jury selection for Daniel Mustard’s trial, when potential jurors were asked if they had posted in the story comments on kitsapsun.com following our reporting on the murder of Ruby Andrews.You all know what comments following most criminal stories can be like, and the question attorneys were asking was whether participation in those comment threads could influence a potential juror’s thinking.
That question, a first in this county’s court system and likely something pretty rare nationwide, prompted Josh to begin thinking about how social media is forcing change in the criminal justice system. He and Kim have brainstormed more ideas to get at the issue, and hopefully something he can get feedback on this week from experts around the country.
Look for the story soon, and we’ll look forward to hearing about our reporter’s trip to the big city later this week.
—David
