THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016

Why We Didn’t Rush To Publish The Name Of The Mother

This is being written on Thursday afternoon, about five days after a 4-year-old (downgraded to a 3-year-old) dropped into the gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo. As a result, Harambe, the 17-year-old Gorilla-American, was shot to protect the child.

The Whistleblower Newswire has covered the story thoroughly, since the first call came across the scanner and was heard by one of the Whistleblower Summer Interns at exactly 4:04 PM last Saturday afternoon. Inevitably, the incident has drawn international attention, bringing national and foreign journalists to Cincinnati, some of whom, to be kind, don’t play by the same rules as a totally credible news organization such as ours. While all journalism reacting to breaking news has its imperfections, you can be sure The Blower wasn’t selling advertising to pay for interviews or stories, nor were we rushing to print every conceivable detail without regard to its impact or appropriateness.

We always frame our work by trying to do the right thing, to serve the public interest, and to respect the incredible gift that is the First Amendment of These United States of America.

With that context, you might have noticed one thing that has been missing from our coverage: the name of Harambe’s Gorilla-American Mother whose son was at the center of the story. Other media may have reported her name. But The Blower never has, and believe us, The Blower never will.