Our pledge to Lauren and readers

Since the day the police notified the press of Lauren Spierer’s disappearance, the Indiana Daily Student has worked tirelessly to tell you everything we know about the case.

The coverage is not for our benefit, it is for Lauren and our readers.

In cases such as these, there will be rumors, and they do exist regarding Lauren’s case. However, it is imperative that news organizations take the time to verify the facts with reliable sources such as the police, the Spierer family and those closely involved in the volunteer work.

In a highly sensitive case such as this, it is important that we prevent any more confusion and minimize as much harm as possible.

A clause in the IU Student Media Code of Ethics states “minimize harm and be fair.” As editor-in-chief of the Indiana Daily Student, I have decided that this is my way of abiding by the code.

If you read our coverage, there are gaps. But it’s for a reason. It’s important we maintain a balance of respecting the work of the police and not releasing information on rumors that may harm their investigation or cause unnecessary trauma to the family.

Since her disappearance, I have faced some of the most difficult decisions as editor-in-chief. These have been decisions that might harm the investigation, take the focus off finding Lauren or harm the family.

We have been reading your comments on our website, Twitter and Facebook. We have tried to answer every question you ask with our coverage and we will continue to do so.

However, there will be questions we don’t know the answers to.

There have been days when other news organizations have released information before us. If we take our time, it’s not because we want to prevent you from knowing information, but to make sure what we tell you is indeed factual. We are consistently working as quickly as possible to verify those facts.

Lauren is a student. The people involved in this case, whether it be persons of interest or witnesses, are students. Those working for the Indiana Daily Student are students. We are all connected because we are Hoosiers.

Any of us could have been Lauren that Friday morning.

Let’s remember to think about our priorities as a news organization, as a campus, as a community and as a country. An IU student is missing. It doesn’t matter what rumors exist about her.

We focus our coverage for the same reason that everyone else is involved in this case, and that is because we hope Lauren is found.

— blillard@indiana.edu