Behind the Bennett story

It seems like the reaction to the two-part story by Tom Parker on the struggles and death of Robert Glenn Bennett in the Jan. 3 and 10 issues has started to slow down, so I wanted to talk a little bit about the background behind the decision to do the story and the approach we took to it.
While I did get two negative responses from readers about the Bennett stories (one expected, one not expected) the positive responses have been amazing. The Washington County News has gotten more response form this story overall than from any feature story that I’ve been involved with in my eight years with the News.
When Bennett originally went missing in August, I did my best to do stories about his disappearance and the search. I had never done this kind of story before because frankly, we don’t have this sort of news very often.
After about three weeks, the search went cold and like so many stories, I had other news on which to focus, so this missing person story was scheduled for occasional updates.
So finally, when the body was discovered and confirmed as Bennett, we could close this particular missing person case and move on, right?
I never quite felt comfortable with that sort of ending. Here was this man with great talents and a loving family who, for unknown reasons at the time, was so far into the blackness of depression he decided to take his life while here in Washington County – a county I so often proclaim as a stronghold of goodness and happiness.
The story was closed, but not complete, and I felt very uncomfortable with that, yet I really didn’t have an exact vision for what was needed to more properly close the story. What really happened? Why did it happen here? What led to this? Who was this man?
Turns out, Tom Parker was feeling the same way about the incompleteness.
We talked over several days about the possibility of going further with the story and possibly putting a real name and face on this stranger’s newspaper headline.
I had a certain vision of what I wanted to come out of this, having learned that there were some struggles on Bennett’s part with mental illness. I didn’t want to glorify suicide, yet I wanted to bring some awareness to mental illness, all while treating the deceased and his family with respect and at no point did I want to exploit the situation for my newspaper.
I was thrilled that Tom was willing to take this project on, because I admitted long ago that he is a much, much more talented writer than I could ever aspire to be.
Tom and I had many conversations about the story over his six weeks or so of working on the story. We didn’t want to run it until it was complete in all aspects.
Fortunately, I strongly believe that Tom took this story to a level far exceeding what I had directed or hoped for. I think he treated the situation with great respect and detailed attention, while also providing a journey for readers that I’m sure they will not soon forget.
Not only did we receive letters from readers and accolades from other industry folks, I don’t know how many times I was pulled aside while out and about by people who heaped praise on the story and Tom’s ability. These folks often related to this story because of their own personal connection to someone who suffered from mental illness or who ended their life in the same tragic way as Bennett’s.
Tom and I and Bennett’s family who so graciously worked with Tom on the story, will probably never know how deeply this story affected our readers’ lives.
I was very pleased with this response because honestly, I didn’t know how our readers would react. It is not too often that a rural weekly newspaper dives into such a deep and serious topic, and I knew that. But this gives me confidence that our readers are ready for compelling and deeply intense stories, rather than just “mind candy.”
And beyond that, I was happy that Tom was able to offer a more proper sendoff for Robert Bennett.
While every one of us would have rather seen a better ending to the story, like Bennett was found in Dallas or Denver or something, or even never heard of Robert Bennett in the first place because he was able to receive the help he needed before taking his life, I believe Tom succeeded in showing Bennett was, as recent letter writer John Merritt so perfectly said in an e-mail after he sent a letter to the editor… “still a human being worthy of empathy.”