On Wednesday, we reported a story about how four teens from the Nashua area had been charged with invasion of privacy.  This was in connection to a case in which a young woman said nude pictures of her had been taken while she used a tanning bed. She told police that the pictures were taken without her knowledge.

At the end of April, we were contacted by a concerned parent who said the victim in this case was being harassed at school and that for a time, the pictures surfaced on the internet. That’s when we first learned about the situation. That’s how it is a lot of time On April 24th we talked with Nashua Police about this case and an officer there told us that they could not comment about it at that time. He did say that there would be information released later.

We had been working on this story for more than a month now to confirm the details in this case. It was not until yesterday that police was able to confirm that four people were being investigated in this case.

That’s how it works sometimes in the news business. We may get a tip call or an e-mail, but until we get the facts lined up and confirmed, we can’t report the story.

The other thing to consider in this case was the age of the accused. Two are 18-year-olds and two are 17-year-olds. Two are adults and two are juveniles. As much as it’s our job to report the facts, we also have to be respectful about causing unecessary harm to young people facing some serious charges.

Our responsibility as journalists include reporting the facts and uncovering the truth. Folks in Nashua have been wondering what’s been going on with this case for quite some time now. It’s our job to let them know what’s happening in their community. If we ignored this case just because the suspects in this case are teens, we wouldn’t be doing our jobs.

While a lot of information about people under the age of 18 is protected here in Iowa, information about juveniles charged in delinquency cases are a matter of public records.

Pursuant to Iowa Code 232.147, juvenile court records are confidential in all cases except those alleging delinquency. This means that official juvenile court records in delinquency cases are public. These records include the complaint, the delinquency petition and court orders filed by the Clerk of the District Court.

Nate Leding
News Director
KWWL-DT
nleding@kwwl.com

Posted under From the Corner Office

Hello, my name is Nate Leding and I’m the news director here at KWWL. I officially took over the job on Monday, May 18 and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

I spent the majority of my childhood growing up in Minnesota – the Twin Cities area mostly. I finished up high school in far northern Wisconsinin a small town called Bayfield. I received my degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

After college I worked in television in Arizona, Minnesota, Connecticut, South Carolina and now in Iowa.

I’ve been working here in eastern Iowa since August of 2008. That’s when I took the job as Executive Producer at KWWL.

I really enjoy Iowa. It reminds me of the places where I grew up. The people here are nice and filled with that Midwestcommon sense. They’re hard-working and would really do anything for a neighbor. I can understand why my great-grandfather John settled in Winneshiek County after leaving Norway in 1871.

I take this job very seriously. As journalists, we have a big responsibility. We must always remember that we are in the business of serving the public. This effort comes in all shapes and sizes. It means we do our best to uncover the truth and hold people accountable. We need to report the news with integrity and avoid any conflicts of interest that might compromise our reporting. It’s our job to let folks know what’s going on so that they can make better decisions.

I look forward to leading our newsroom. Several times each week I will post notes to this blog giving you a little insight into what the KWWL newsroom does on a daily basis.

Nate Leding

News Director

KWWL-DT

nleding@kwwl.com

Posted under From the Corner Office