An Arizona Republic reporter talked his way into a journalistic coup — an interview with FLDS patricarch Joseph Jessop. For two years, Jack Kurtz has been traveling to Hildale and Colorado City to report on the polygamous group and hoping to make a personal connection that would allow him "to show what life is like in the small FLDS communities."He finally won Jessop's confidence and the door opened. He was even included in a prayer when Jessop, said:
No reporter has ever gotten past the driveway and into our house, and I hope I wasn't wrong to let this one in.
If you read Kurtz' lightweight article, you'll see that Jessop's prayer was answered. Kurtz offers a valentine to the FLDS way of life. No mention of sexual abuse, child brides or welfare fraud appears in the story. Nor does Kurtz offer any rebuttal to FLDS statements, including that the women are not "brainwashed" and "their children have higher levels of educational achievement than children from other parts of Arizona (including Phoenix) or Utah"
The Republic, of course, has reported extensively on the negative side of the FLDS controversy, but Kurtz piece left me wondering if he cut a deal to get inside — and to return.What I have seen and experienced in Colorado City and Hildale wasn't what I expected. I found a family a lot more normal than most reports would have you believe, except that they're a polygamous family.
Or, as one celestial wife told me, I was more normal than they expected, except that I'm in a monogamous family.
3 Comments:
It is sad that when one of the Arizona Republic's reporters finally takes a reasoned stance on an FLDS family, that this SLTrib. writer thinks that it must be a lie. Too bad your world is all black or white. That must mean that all this alleged abuse and ignorance is only for the FLDS and none appears in your own neighborhood.
Humans are humans...you find the same things within all groups.
The FLDS and other polygamous groups have long been a whipping boy for journalists. Anytime a writer does their own research and reports what they see, all the people not wanting to see anything good about this group screams bias, when in truth it is them that are the ones with bias.
Of course the article in question is a fluff piece, but for Warchol to accuse another "reporter" of producing light-weight journalism is a case of the pot calling the kettle noir...See for yourself: Do a search of the Trib archive for the past 10 yrs and look at Warchol's paltry and pitiful output...can you find anything that is NOT and example of light-weight, marshmallow-lobbing, sycophantic, slobbering j-ism? Of course not.
Coming a little late to this party, but here I am, the photographer of the piece.
A couple of points:
1) I did not cut a deal to get in. I called the Jessop family and asked if I could photograph them. I told them I wanted to see what their life was like and that I did not have an agenda. For reasons I am not even sure of they said yes. They took a chance that I was being honest with them.
2) There was no pre approval of photos or text. I photographed whatever I saw.
This was neither an apology for nor an exposé of polygamy. More than anything it was a portrait of one family. No more, no less.
The Arizona Republic has done lots of reporting on problems in Colorado City. And the paper will do more when events warrant the coverage. This was a chance to see the other side of the coin.
Next time you want to question my motives or ethics please feel free to contact me directly. I'm easy to find.
Jack
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