Readers of The Bulletin may notice some changes with our next issue. These will affect our editorial policy and styles.
Perhaps the most obvious is that we will no longer be using the honorifics Mr., Ms. and Mrs. in our stories. The editorial staff at The Bulletin has resisted this change for several years, believing the use of the honorifics denotes a sense of civility in a society — and an industry — that can often be uncivil. But the choice is no longer ours and we must make the change.
Of greater impact, and importance, will be a change in the way we report crimes and other police news. Until now, The Bulletin has refrained from using names in reporting domestic disputes. That will no longer be so. In cases where arrests are made in what are known as “domestic incidents,” we will report the names of those charged. The argument has been made that withholding the names of the aggressors protects the victims. An equally valid argument can be made that this practice unfairly protects the offender and could serve to prolong the problem. By naming those who commit these heinous acts perhaps it will shed a greater light on a tragic situation that is too often hidden from view.
The Bulletin has also often withheld what might be considered routine police matters from our website, WiltonBulletin.com. That will no longer be the case. Arrests and other matters released by the Wilton Police Department, that we report on in the paper, will now also be placed online. These are among the most-read items in our paper and we see no reason to withhold them any longer from our website.
These changes will take effect with our issue published on April 2. As many of our readers know, The Bulletin is one of 18 news outlets in the Hersam Acorn network. These changes will make all our outlets — newspapers and websites — cohesive units in reporting the news of Fairfield, New Haven and Westchester counties along with Connecticut and New York state news.