The rumors. The skeptics. The conspiracies. The internet sleuths.
No one could have foreseen the nation’s fascination with the quadruple homicide in Moscow last November. No one could have predicted the endless news stories popping up on their feed for almost an entire year.
Journalism seemed to deteriorate into clickbait. At least that’s what four University of Idaho alumni that covered the case think.
Lauren Paterson, of Northwest Public Broadcasting, Angelo Palermo, of the Idaho Statesman, Monica Carrillo-Casas, of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News and John Webb, of KHQ-TV, all found their vocations at a tipping point last year. An unimaginable tragedy had occurred. The unimaginable tragedy occurred in their alma-mater’s town. It happened to Vandals, and their jobs required them to cover the story.
What’s the approach? How is empathy placed at the center of the story? Why did this happen?
Questions flooded the four journalists’ minds. They couldn’t just read about it in the news. They were the news. They had to find the answers, and they had to do it alongside helicopter reporters from the nation’s largest media outlets. Journalists from across the country flocked to Moscow.
“I was second guessing my career during that time,” Webb said of his coverage.
“Am I made to be a journalist?” Carrillo-Casas remembered asking herself.
November’s tragedy became the nation’s entertainment. And these four UI alumni found that their personal connection to the school and to Moscow pushed them to the highest ethical standards and to the most heartfelt approach possible.
“This is the most important story I have ever done,” Paterson said.
Paterson started working at Northwest Public Broadcasting in February of 2022. She covered arts and culture stories primarily. Nine months into her time at NWPB, the King Road homicides story came across her plate. She didn’t want to cover the story, but she knew she needed to. This was her college town. This was her fellow Vandals. She felt an obligation to represent Moscow accurately and compassionately through her coverage.
However, accuracy and compassion seemed to be few and far between in so much of the national coverage she was reading. What was going on? How is this story getting out of control? Why is this traumatic story being given over to the tabloids? These are all questions Paterson asked herself in the few months after Nov. 13.
Paterson could no longer find sources. She couldn’t get students to speak with her. She had to rely on her own personal network. But why? Paterson recalled a time soon after the homicides took place. Café Artista announced it was closing early so its workers could get home while it was light outside. That’s a story, Paterson thought.
She made her way down to Main Street and entered the coffee shop she had been to many times before during her time as a UI student. She walked up to a barista, asked why they were closing early and got a less than pleasant response. The barista said Paterson was the fourth journalist to come in and ask that question and that they weren’t going to talk with the media.
“I know students who went home over Christmas break, not because they knew the students (Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kaylee Goncalves) and were necessarily distressed, but because the media was camped outside of their house 24/7,” Paterson said.
Local journalists found it hard to follow in the footsteps of national media because of the disarray they left behind once they left town.
“Sources were burnt out of answering questions,” Webb said. “The spreading of false information and speculation was hard to see as an ethical journalist.”
Webb lived on King Road as a junior at UI. He remembered it as a fun, social, partying atmosphere. When he returned to that street to cover the homicides, that atmosphere had disappeared.
“I don’t think King will ever be the same. It’s hard to look back at the good times. I never locked my door or window when I was in Moscow,” Webb said.
He said this story was closer to his heart because of his personal connection to the town. That notion echoed throughout the stories of local journalists. Webb said it is his responsibility as a journalist to make sure the public understands how emotional and raw this story is.
“I don’t think anyone could have anticipated how national media swooped in,” Palermo said.
She said it was difficult seeing rumors fly while she was working her hardest to have a well-sourced article. It was difficult seeing false accusations when she was the one who got a scoop talking with Moscow Building Supply, the store Palermo bought her potting soil at when she lived in town.
“I am a Vandal. I lived in Moscow. It’s difficult covering the community you know well when it’s in the time of the stress,” Palermo said.
The nation took that stress, that tragedy, that trauma and created an entertainment industry, Paterson said. She said the media was so saturated with the story that it farmed for any content they could get.
Paterson talked with Dr. Danielle Slackoff, a journalist and criminologist. She learned from Slackoff that there are four main reasons the nation grabbed on to the homicides and sensationalized the story. The victims were young, vibrant and attractive. There were endless photos of the victims. Stabbing deaths are very rare. There was no suspect at the time. These combined factors created a sensation that could capture America’s attention. But that wasn’t the motivation of those four local journalists. They weren’t working for clicks. They weren’t looking to create entertainment.
“The most important thing is getting justice for these four students, not that you (journalists) get some cool little scoop about the story that someone else didn’t,” Paterson said.
They were looking to represent their community. They were looking to find answers for their community. They were looking to support their fellow Vandals.
Joanna Hayes can be reached at [email protected]