I believe it simply comes down to the morales of this paper. These women who were arrested were just that, arrested. At that time they were not found guilty. Posting the pictures of these women who were not yet found guilty by a court of law seems morally wrong to me. Once any of them were found guilty (which at the time of this comment 6/22/08, there were none), post the picture if you like. However, to me, the posting of the pictures seemed premature.

Tabloid Journalism Tactics of the Janesville Gazette.

What happened to non partisan responsible journalism?

You trash peoples lives and when they are NOT convicted you take the position of "oh well." You cant take it back, an appology doesnt DO anything, but in the end The Gazette sold some papers and the innocent person's life is marred for the rest of their days in Janesville. Nice.

may I suggest that from now on, should there be more arrests in this area of criminal behavior that you NOT publish the photos. I realize it wouldn't be "fair" to the people already publicly humiliated; however, it's never too late to do the next right thing. In other words, I think that the Gazette DID make an error in publishing the women's photos along with their addresses again. (They are already in the public record account.)

Again, I'm more than a little frustrated that the guys photos were not published for public humiliation. I can accept the logic that there wasn't a booking photo, but I am sure that there are photos of the guys charged SOMEWHERE. (perhaps another criminal charge from another crime committed?)

There is no reason to put the women in even GREATER danger of physical harm.

Wrong, Tom Paine. The stories were on the front page of the local section.

Scott Angus

outdoors, you missed the point of the editor's blog.

The problem is, its slang. I know a lot of people who use the word ain't, I just do not expect a newspaper editor to use it.

What's wrong with "cops"?
I know a lot of them, and they have no problem with being referred to as such.

Scott, stop using slang..its not cops, its police.

You are so wrong on this one ray.
It was a situation that should have been handled by the township P.D. but the Chief at the time didn't want to deal with it.
So he requested that the Sheriff's dept. handle it.
They did, but unfortunately the upper echelon went overboard and made it a media circus, much like Screemin' Meemies.

the bear chests were a poltically motived arrested because the owners were supporters of then Sheriff Erickson. The arrests came after Runass was elected and sworn into office

I haven't followed this issue well enough to be making any long winded comments ,mostly form lack of interest and because everyone else seems to have covered the issue just fine,a couple times. My only point is that if these women were arrested for prostitution for only a lap dance I would be extremely surprised.

sangus wrote....
.

" we didn't use photos of the men arrested during the sting at Riverside
Park. One of them was indeed a member of our board of directors. It was a
judgment call on my part, and it was probably the wrong call."
.
I would say it was the RIGHT call.
.
The WRONG call was using the photos of the people involved in the Screamin’ MeeMees arrests.
.
Think back to the Bare Chest arrests 6 to 8 years ago.
.
I believe all of them, dancers and patrons who were originally arrested for the same charges -prostitution - were eventually fined for disorderly conduct.
.
How do you think their lives would have been changed if you had published their pictures when they were arrested for the original prostitution charges?
.
Because whether you know it or not, some of those very people are now some very upstanding citizens of this community whose lives would have been ruined had you published their pictures at the time.
.
If they are convicted of the felony charges, I say say their pictures are fair game.
But until then, it's just tabloid journalism.
.
Shame on you. Look yourselves in the mirror.

see article Man charged in prostitution probe

For all of those whe mentioned "but it is just lap dances"

Guess you were WRONG

If according to what Chief Mahan has said is true that lap dances = prostitution. I think Rock County DA David O'Leary better ask the state for more money so he can have More ADA's to prosecute all the dancers at every strip club in the County. WOW whata a revenue maker this could be.Maybe Chief Mahan just solved the state's Budget Crisis' WE COULD CHARGE EVERY DANCER IN THE STATE WITH THE PRosititution and if we get say a 700$ fine off each one the State would have more money than it could spend.

" Way to sell those papers. I hope you get a pay increase for all of the papers were sold at the cost of the girls."
that is what they like to do anyway- get money for people looking at them!!!!!! and theyre sure dont seem to be worried about that.

everyday they work and leave that hole of a work place theyre endangering themselves.

so dont blam the gazette for this story- if something happens to them

Is the newspaper gonna take blame if something happens to one of the girls because their address was posted? You state that pictures are used do to the severity of the crime. The girls gave lapdances. WOW!!!!!!!!! Thats serious, the world will come to an end now. Wheres the pic of the lady who killed someone due to drunk driving? Im sure that the papers were selling before this whole thing came about. Its like picking up a tabloid. The paper makes it seem like the girls have been tried, convicted and sentence. I just want to say way to go Janesville Gazette!! Way to sell those papers. I hope you get a pay increase for all of the papers were sold at the cost of the girls. I hope the money makes you happy because it has severely endangered other people.

marymac4- you dont sell your self physically!!!
with words and builing repore and a relationship yes !! you dont strip down have sex contact and collect money- THERE IS A DIFFERENCE

They must keep the lights down low in there :p

"Let's completely strip them of their dignity."??????
Since when is being a stripper in a dignified job?!

Sex sells papers. That is why the photos are in the paper. Nobody wants to see the photos of the drunk drivers over the weekend. Janesvilles biggest prostitution bust ever! A few lap dances. Please.

AS far as if they were to be found innocent it is on their court record for good. I have won my case and was innocent and the charge is still in public record on ccap. it was dismissed but not the paper trail.

Actually protitution is " any form of selling ones self for profit or a gain" I sell myself everyday I work for a gain. and if all the persons viewing or writing comments at one time I bet sold theirself for a gain or profit and never knew or thought about it. the papers sell peoples life for a gain as well as their own. SOMETHING TO PONDER

OK, I opened the discussion, so I'll follow up and answer some of the
questions that have been raised.
- We did not use photos of the three women arrested and accused of
prostitution at Screamin' MeeMees last summer. Why? I'm not sure. No one
remembers. It could be that we didn't think to do it or that the photos
weren't available when we needed them. We covered the story extensively
because the arrests grew out of raids at several related businesses in the
area. We try to be consistent, but many factors come into play, including
deadline pressure, availability of photos and who's making the decisions
here. We cover dozens of stories every week, hundreds every month.
We try our best, but we're far from perfect.
- No, we didn't use photos of the men arrested during the sting at Riverside
Park. One of them was indeed a member of our board of directors. It was a
judgment call on my part, and it was probably the wrong call. No one could
accuse us of not covering those arrests aggressively and prominently. In
fact, some people said we went too far. But we didn't use pictures, and we
probably should have.
- Do we hope to sell newspapers with our coverage? Of course we do. That's
our job. But we also know that if we are irresponsible and sensational, many
of our loyal readers will be unhappy and stop reading us. We try to walk the
line, and we rely on our experience, our guidelines and our professional
judgment.

We're human, and we're fallible. But I think we generally do a solid job,
and our motives are good.

Scott Angus

billnewbie, your innocence is sort of shocking. I wish I could continue to believe as you do, and as I did ... and in fact, maybe more to the point, to believe that circumstances still meant that most people don't get into trouble with the law if they are not guilty. There may have been a time in our past when this was true (for the racial majority, anyway), but those days are gone, gone, gone. One person's incorrect allegations can ruin another person for life. Even if the justice system finds you innocent, there's an arrest and the name of a crime attached to your name forever. Obviously these people were busted flat-out, but it takes a whole lot less than what the JPD apparently has on these folks to get into trouble, clean nose or not.

My question for Mr. Angus is whether they have photos of their board members available? Seems to me a while back a member of the Gazette's board of directors was arrested for a sex related crime in Riverside park. Not terribly serious, but highly unusual and seems to me at the time sparked a high level of interest. Wouldn't you know - No photo of Mr. Johnston. Hmmmmm.

*I glad the paper put the pictures in. Next time let's parade them down Main Street also. After all it's their problem not ours. Let's completely strip them of their dignity. *

Considering their profession, I doubt little dignity was intact as is.

*If they had a hard time finding jobs before, this whole experience should make it way more easier now. *

Considering what these ladies were doing on the job, it makes the skin crawl to consider what they might do to simply GET a job.

*Thanks Gazette Job well done. Pat yourselves on the back! Keep your chin up!*

The Gazette's "job" is to sell papers. Mission accomplished, apparently.

***All this is, is a waste of money and time! go get the child abusers and the drug dealers!!!!!
This is all petty.**

Unfortunately, your thoughts are not shared by city, state or federal governments. Write your elected officials and get the laws changed. By this and other flawed logic, the only things which will be illegal will be: drug dealing, child abuse and murder.

Otherwise, here are some options:

Harder choice: run for office on a pro-prostitution agenda.

Easier choice: move to Nevada.

Hannah, I understand. However, based on Scott Angus' comment in his blog, "the more serious the crime, the more likely that we'll run a photo of the suspect." I consider sexual assault of a child to be a serious crime. A picture, therefore, I believe-based on the criteria, is reasonable.

for msassy-
http://www.familywatchdog.us/

you can keep an eye on the convicted
you can sign up for email allerts
just plug in where you live etc

sycokid- no wonder the budget isnt balanced

tbatch2000- one of them has conviction for harming and trying to harm police and people.
so be careful what you promise

joe jack- if they had trouble finding jobs it wasnt just because of this incendent- see there long records for some of them- if i hired one of them i would be afraid theyld beat me up if they got punished or angry

wonders- noone could believe "those nice boys" robbed the liquer store either. so it could be true someone may have thought it could be her/the wrong person

according to today's public record:
A 19-YEAR-OLD JANESVILLE MAN on a charge of second-degree sexual assault to a child Tuesday.

No picture. This is the picture I would want to see in the newspaper. I have 9 and 10 year old children in my care. I want to be better informed about child molesters in the community. Where is the address of this offender?

it was`nt a big deal at all for the former new york gov to spend $5000.00 for a prostitute,just like the war on drugs we will never win,the more people we import the worse things will get

I think the Gazette should've posted pictures of the ladies in their work uniforms.

We are becoming a shameless society. Kids who do stupid, unethical, or even illegal things with no shame attached to it grow up to be adults who do stupid, unethical, or even illegal things. Shaming them and the customers may make them think twice about engaging in such activities or patronizing such establishments.

WOW, BY LOOKING AT SOME OF THESE PICTURES, I FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE THEY MADE MONEY AT ALL WHILE WORKING.... BUT THEN AGAIN, THEY ARE NOT IN THEIR FINEST STATE HERE POSING FOR THE MUG SHOTS...

Prostitution is no big deal? The big deal is people who participate in this degenerate activity, who want to believe it does no harm because they like it. They don't see, or care about, the people who are harmed. They only care about what they want. If these women are used up before they're 30 with no prospects and no family support, that's alright with them as long as there is a fresh supply of young, naive, hotties to exploit.

In response to Wonders comments, how dare you question wether I am of questionable moral character. Not everyone knows me, but they may know my name. People are small minded and we live in a guilty first society. I do not want to people to mistake my name with the person who was arrested. For example when I am appling for a job etc, where they may not know me, but they will associate my name, with hers. Janesville still has a small town mentality.

joejack:
I don't want to get dirty, so I stay out of the mud. Do you think that being accused of a crime is a matter of chance, that it could happen to anyone at anytime? Avoiding arrest and staying out of the newspaper is easy to do. People who get arrested are usually not innocent, even if not convicted. People who are wrongfully arrested are usually people whom the police have dealt with before and have a reputation problem. As the editor said, when someone is identified by the paper and is exonerated later, that story is also published.

Hats off and a big thank you to the JPD and J Gazette. A good example of our system working!!!
If you don't want bad publicity or your picture in the paper...Don't put yourself in that position. Plain and simple.

All this is, is a waste of money and time! go get the child abusers and the drug dealers!!!!!
This is all petty. I think someone here made a correct comment, whats next JPD lurking around Back Bar and Jumbos for Prostitution. If that was the case there would be many of us up for the same charges! What is this world turning into ? Whats the matter with you people WAKE UP!!!!!

Sannio are you kidding me you think these girls are going to harm you be for real!@#$&&

quam6535 is absolutely right. I am certainly not a Halbach fan, but this is purely a way to harass the man and hope he closes up the business. This quote, the police chief's explanation, says it all: "He explained that touching or rubbing genitalia, breasts or buttocks against another person for money constitutes prostitution." This is a waste of our police and DA budgets and plays into Halbach's persecution complex.

"If you don't want to be ashamed, don't do something shameful."
What bothers me about this statement is that people are forgetting that these people are simply accused, and have not been convicted. Remember, "Innocent until PROVEN guilty in a court of law", so many times, we the public like to have our own little court of opinion and judge these people before they have there day in court. I don't have a problem with these people having their picture printed after they have been convicted, but before is just sensationalism, and for this the Gazette is guilty. Again, they plaster the picture of these girls and two guys that are caught up in "Lap Dance Gate", but some guy who gets off with probation for beating the crap out of his girlfriend and forcing her to have sex, just gets a text article, makes you wonder the true motive behind the Gazettes choices. TO SELL PAPERS! Scott, it is cute that you are trying to distance yourself from the trash that you have become by offering these lame excuses. "what we believe was the biggest prostitution bust in city history" Your own investigative reporting has shown that this is nothing more than lap dances, but you want to sensationalize this incident as the biggest prostitution bust in history! Come on! This is nothing more than an ordinance violation, but you want to make it sound like a federal prostitution bust. You paint it up like there are pimps and hookers roaming the streets of Janesville at will. And Janesville's finest have protected a vulnerable community from this horrible act. When in reality, since the ordinance about adult entertainment says that nude dancing with contact is illegal, everyone assumes that it is prostitution to the fullest extent. You can go out of Janesville's city limits, and this law is baseless. I can't wait to see the coverage the Gazette offers when all of these cases get pleaded down to a simple misdemeanor.

Prostitution is not a big deal, so long as the people involved are of consenting age, it's really nobody's business what they do.. Moreso for lap dancing.. Janesville needs to loosen up a bit, this isn't the 1950's.

The thing is, they are considering what amounts to a lap dance, prostitution. And I believe that is wrong. The only difference between a lap dance and what happens on the dance floor at Quotes on a Friday is, the girls at Quotes are giving it away for free.

I guess the lesson here is, if you're going to act in a sexual manner, in public, make sure you are getting paid in the form of free drinks from men, and not straight up $20 bills.

Also, the strippers, aren't going to get wasted and go home with these men, they are going to spend 20 minutes with them, do their dance, and that's that.

Also, I've only been to a strip club I think 3 times, and have NEVER had a lap dance. So don't think I'm a frequenter of these establishments. I just simply think this is a witch hunt against Halbach. And the girls are caught in the middle of a personal vendetta.

The Gazette should print the photos of people are arrested. Even though they aren't guilty of any crime, we need to know who they are, so we can protect ourselves until they are ultimately judged guilty. Also, prostitution doesn't fit well with this country's moral/religious values. Congress should pass stiff anti-prostitution laws because of this.

Billinewbie – pretty arrogant statments, hope you never have to go through anything the gazette considers news worthy.

what happened to the 3 from last summer? also i don't recall their pictures in the Paper? Scott could you clarify that one? As for Hiring the sign on 51 says they are LOL.

It's not the newspaper's job to protect the sensibilities of people who are identified in their publication. If you don't want to be ashamed, don't do something shameful. Even if these people are exonerated of the charges they face, they still are involved in a business that most would be ashamed to have it be known they are in.

I glad the paper put the pictures in. Next time let's parade them down Main Street also. After all it's their problem not ours. Let's completely strip them of their dignity. I think that would be news worthy and would give the gazette another opportunity to capitalize on someone else's life choices and an obvious error. In the public record section of the gazette those people are also accused criminals yet the gazette and Mr. Angus don't feel the need to publish those photos. Funny! I'm just wondering is this common practice in other papers Mr. Angus? I'm not even sure where the closest city for prostitution would be next to ours. I’ll assume that's a good thing. I'm guessing, but does Madison print and photo every prostitute they arrest? Sure it was news worthy a big bust. So let's kick them when their down. Mr. Angus as you are well aware from the blogs people can sometimes be very cruel in their judgments and opinions of others. Wither deserved or undeserved. So if you need a few scarlet colored letter A's let me know. We don't do that anymore because we are SO CIVILIZED now. But what the paper did is its equivalent. If they had a hard time finding jobs before, this whole experience should make it way more easier now. Thanks Gazette Job well done. Pat yourselves on the back! Keep your chin up!

jswhitm to quote “To have people believe that I could be the person arrested is awful.” I would think that if you were anything of an upstanding person, no one would confuse you because of the same name. I will not defend what they did, but I will also point out that the word “prostitution” in this case includes “the naked rubbing of one fully clothed person against one that is not fully clothed”. That is not what most people think of when they hear that word, it sure is not what I think of.

There is no such thing as bad publicity.

I have to agree with some of the posters on the other site.. This is a serious enough crime to post pictures of those arrested. I think then that anyone arrested more than once for drunk driving should also have their pictures in the paper. If not for the embarrassment of the arrested party than for the information of the general public. I'm sure they would also have mug shots at the police dept.

I will tell you this- Those who think Screemin' Meemee's should be shut down should thank the Gazette for using the pictures. Printing those mugs in the Gazette will do more to shut down that joint than the J.P.D. could ever do.

I am glad that you used the girls pictures, age, and address. I share the same name as one of the girls charged, I am a mother, a wife, and member of the community which I live in. To have people believe that I could be the person arrested is awfull. By showing the girls pictures it was clear that it I was not the person arrested.

What will they right about you one day, I hope they post your picture with it.. Everyone has something they rather the world not know about.

I think people have nothing better to do than complain what pictures are/are not put in the paper. If you don't like it, simply stop reading the paper and looking at this site. Better yet, start your own paper and run it how you wish, i'm sure a text only paper would go over wonderfully. Now, find something better to do, i'm going fishing!

I see that you have posted a photo of the most recent person arrested -a young man.

You have been fair and continue to inform the community. Thank you, that's why I subscribe

We would not print a retraction because nothing in our story is untrue. We would, however, print a story reporting that the charges had been dropped or the people had been found guilty, and we would print it in essentially the same place as the original story.

Scott Angus

Why would they print a retraction? The article clearly stated that they were charged, not convicted....

Just a thought.......
Is it not "Innocent until proven guilty"?
What if all are not convicted, will a retraction be run?

StacyU2:
Words are a journalists forte, to be wielded as artfully as a painter’s brush and as precisely as a surgeon’s scalpel. And an editor is expected to attain the epitome of writing excellence. Having written and delivered hundreds of performance assessments, I can tell you that employees hang on every word and nuance. When your boss writes about you in a public forum, you will be even more sensitized to the phraseology, particularly comments that border on “damning with faint praise”. I wouldn’t hold a poster here to such a high standard; that would indeed be “picky”. But I’d rather hope the editor is not above welcoming helpful criticism, and having read several of his other columns, I suspect that he is not.
If a staff position was available at the Gazette, I’m afraid I’d not be qualified to fill it.

The pictures expose the reality of the situation. Visual aids often help in understanding the world around us. Now dont get me wrong, as a guy, going to a gentlemens club for a party is simply well fun without crossing the line. The girls have clearly crosssed the line.

Are they hiring? :)

To Northman:
Are we that picky with "Verbage"???
The Editorial was fine.. If you think you could have written it better, May be you should apply for a Staff position on the Gazette..
Don't you think that Mr. Angus may have "Dumbed it Down" a little bit just to satisfy or Pacify the common reader??

I agree with the coverage in the original article, and this is a well written editorial, except at the end. “I think I'd have made the same decision.” This is a valid comment when addressing your peers’ actions. But as the boss, it sounds not so much wishy-washy as acting to cover your backside. A *really* good boss would have said, “I fully back their decision.”