Scott Bremner

It was nothing short of a horrendous situation.

A morning of testimony in a Summit Township meeting room converted because of the size of the crowd into a court room.

A young woman had spent a night out partying and came home to baby sit her 20-month old stepsister and another 2-year old girl.

When the night caught up with the sitter and she fell asleep on the couch, the two little girls wandered out of the house only to drown in a pond on the property.

When prosecutors decided to charge the babysitter with manslaughter for falling asleep on the job, it had the inevitable effect of bringing the media to the makeshift courtroom.

When the media showed up to cover such a brutal and heart wrenching case, it had the inevitable effect of bringing out the angry emails.

“How dare you?” one woman wanted to know. “Don’t you know the family is suffering?”

“How could I not know?” I thought back, being the father of two young girls.

But I also knew something else.

When the situation is that frustrating and there is nowhere else to vent, the media often makes an available and convenient target.

That’s okay. I’m a big boy.

That brings us to Erie Catholic Bishop Donald Trautman, and a scathing statement he made rebuking the Erie Times News and reporter Ed Palatella concerning sexual abuse charges made against a former priest from forty years ago.

Crawford County District Attorney Francis Schultz filed the charges based on changes in the law expanding the statute of limitations in these types of cases, only to withdraw those charges the next day because the time allowed for prosecution had already been determined and passed.

Trautman wanted to know why the paper hadn’t been more diligent in knowing the law before reporting on the charges.

Hey, Ed’s a big boy too, and I doubt he’s all that concerned about a defense from me, but the truth is the guy was just doing his job.

Charges were filed, he reported that.

Charges were withdrawn, he reported that, too.

Sometimes it’s no more complicated than that, and asking a reporter to correctly interpret a law that confused a D.A. seems a stretch.

The sex abuse scandal among priests remains a horrifying and painful chapter to many in the Church, but if you need an outlet, hey there’s always the media.

I not trying to make the case that there aren’t acts of overzealousness, incompetence or insensitivity among reporters.

In fact, I probably have a better view of them on a daily basis than you do.

But there are also times when the media catches the heat not because it’s deserved, but simply for being the closest to the flame.