Council candidate raises an age-old debate

TONY DODERO

I got an angry call this week from a council candidate, who I’ll

decline to name, at the candidate’s request.

The candidate was angry about something one of our writers had

reported.

“What?” I asked. “Did we get something wrong?”

“Yes,” the candidate said.

Turns out that wasn’t really the case, though. What we had done

was report the candidate’s age, correctly. So what’s wrong with that?

Well, when our reporter asked for an age, our council candidate

instead gave a cute euphemism that many people use when they don’t

want to see their real age in print. But instead of just letting that

go, our reporter decided to look up the candidate’s age on the voter

registration database and got the right number.

That’s what our candidate was so angry about.

I tried to debate it with the candidate and defended our reporter

for getting facts right. But our candidate disagreed. The candidate’s

point is that age is arbitrary, that it has no bearing on the story

and thus should not be reported in the first place.

For the most part, I agree that just pointing out someone’s age

for no reason is not helpful nor fair and can add to stereotypes. And

we do our best to avoid terms like “elderly” or “aged” or “senior

citizen.” But I told the candidate that I thought it was relevant

when it came to candidates for public office. What if the candidate

happened to be 20? Wouldn’t the readers expect us to tell us how old

the person is so they can make the decision if they want to trust

important government decisions to someone so young?

It isn’t hard to see how young someone is, the candidate argued

back. Sure, but newspapers can’t assume that. And we don’t always run

stories with photographs. So, reporting the person’s age is just

another piece of fact to take into account, like voting records and

party affiliation.

Age has long been a factor in politics. From John F. Kennedy, who

was the youngest president ever to win office (how would we know that

if we couldn’t ask his age?), to Ronald Reagan, who was the oldest

ever. In fact, Reagan even famously played up the age factor in his

debate with Walter Mondale, turning the tables on those who

questioned his senior status by joking that he wouldn’t let the youth

or immaturity of his challenger become an issue in the campaign.

Reagan won the day with that quip, which wouldn’t even have been

possible if we didn’t know his age.

Still, I decided to consult a few resources for backup. Here’s

what the Los Angeles Times Style and Usage Guide says: “The age of a

person should be used only when it is relevant, as when it is needed

for identification.”

According to the textbook that I use for my class at Orange Coast

College, here’s what it says about this argument: “A person’s age

should not be a factor in a story about an accomplishment -- getting

elected to office, winning an award, being employed in an unusual

occupation, for example -- unless it is relevant to the story.”

This is the same textbook that calls for more precise details and

to avoid euphemisms, so I’m not sure there is a definitive answer

here. Also, I think the textbook is wrong. Again, what if a

12-year-old won the Nobel Prize? Wouldn’t age be a factor in that

story?

In our situation, I don’t believe we cited the age of our council

candidate to make a point about age, we used it to add relevant

detail to the story.

For now, here’s what I have told my staff. In stories where we

deem the person’s age relevant, we will no longer let people get away

with telling us they are “50-something” or “29-forever”. Those are

not ages. They are euphemisms. If the person won’t tell us his or her

age, we’ll just report that they refused.

But I’ll take it further. If a story subject refuses to tell us an

age, we’ll begin the debate on whether age is relevant to the story

in the first place and go from there.

As usual, I’d love to hear the readers’ thoughts.

*

As of last week, Jeff Benson, our news assistant since June, moved

to the education beat as part of a promotion to staff writer. Benson

will cover Newport-Mesa schools, Orange Coast College and UC Irvine.

Benson has done a great job as a news assistant and I’m looking

forward to his nice writing touch and thorough reporting on the

schools beat in his new assignment.

Replacing Benson at the news assistant job is Andrew Edwards.

Edwards has been the news assistant at our weeklies, the Huntington

Beach Independent and Coastline Pilot, for about a year and will move

to the Daily Pilot as our Sunday reporter and the man in charge of a

number of our weekly features and compiling calendars.

Both of these young men are great additions to our staff and

please congratulate them if you see them out on assignment.

*

Just a reminder to get out and vote this Tuesday.

As turnout numbers often show, voting is taken for granted around

these parts. But just as a strong defense, a free press and freedom

of speech are vital to our democracy, so too is the right to vote.

Let’s use that right wisely.

See you at the polls on Tuesday.