Thread: Ledger Chose to Protect People In This Series

Lenore Devore
Managing Editor
Dept.: News Executives
(863) 802-7501
lenore.devore@theledger.com

Aiding & Abetting


Published Sunday, May 22, 2005
Ledger Chose to Protect People In This Series

By Lenore Devore
Ledger Managing Editor

Anonymous sources. Readers hate them, and for the most part reporters and editors hate using them.

That's why Ledger editors, reporters and photographers wrestled with this thorny issue while preparing this multifaceted, six-day report on farmworkers in Polk County.

For the last six months, Ledger reporters and photographers interviewed many people who either did not have documents to prove they were legal or who were related to people in that circumstance.

After several discussions among reporters, editors and photographers, including one that included an ethics expert at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, The Ledger has decided to not use undocumented workers' faces or last names.

We think it is important to consider the vulnerability of those we report on. In some situations, the level and seriousness of that vulnerability leads us to protect such people by withholding identification.

Given our stringent guidelines on the use of anonymous sources, we did not make this decision lightly.

We know there are people who may not agree with this. People who come across the border illegally by law are not allowed to work in the United States. And employers cannot legally hire them. But to tell this important story we needed to hear directly from the workers, and we knew they would cooperate only if we protected their identities.

When reporting this series, we came to realize how important it is to talk with the farmworkers, unbridled by supervisors and paid interpreters. Instead of hiring an interpreter, The Ledger employed one of its bilingual interns, Yesenia Mojarro, to assist in interviewing and interpreting. She played a big role in making sure the English-speaking reporters got accurate information, as well as making sure the farmworkers understood all aspects of our reporting.

Their stories are bolstered by documents, many obtained through the federal Freedom of Information Act, and interviews with state and federal officials and farmworker advocates who oversee every area of migrant life.

We think their voice is an important one. They are the people in the fields, spending hours a day doing menial labor for small amounts of money. In many ways, they are the backbone of our economy.

For those reasons, we feel it is important to keep such sources unidentifiable, to protect them not only from possible deportation but also from retaliation from their employers.

I posted the name of the editor and contact infomration. Perhaps she needs to be reported for aiding and abetting. I knew that newspapers would start doing this.


Here are some of their stories

Migrant Workers Find Jobs Easily in Polk County and Across Florida
Samuel is a 28-year-old Mexican who has worked a decade in Florida's citrus groves, mostly in Polk County. Like thousands of other immigrants in Polk, and many millions more in the United States, Samuel entered the country illegally.


Woman, 23, Spent 9 Years of Her Life Working in Fields
PLANT CITY -- You'd expect calloused hands, creases at the eyes, some hint of endless days beneath a punishing sun, plucking ripe strawberries at a furious pace.

Ledger Chose to Protect People In This Series
Anonymous sources. Readers hate them, and for the most part reporters and editors hate using them.
That's why Ledger editors, reporters and photographers wrestled with this thorny issue while preparing this multifaceted, six-day report on farmworkers in Polk County.

Worker Protection Law Covers Duties of Labor Contractors
LAKELAND -- In 2004, the Florida Legislature passed the Florida Agricultural Worker Protection Act, a law that Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, hailed as "clearly the most important piece of legislation passed this decade." Many of its provisions are aimed at the labor contractors who provide...


2 Agencies Take Different Paths to Enforcing Laws
The U.S. Department of Labor and the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation share the duty of enforcing migrant labor regulations in Florida.