In an unusual move, The Columbus Dispatch says it will not print the names of witnesses called to testify in the trials of five alleged members of the Short North Posse.
Five members of the Weinland Park-area gang are on trial in federal court in Columbus on murder and other charges.
Federal prosecutors have said, sympathizers of the Short North Posse have allegedly made threats against witnesses on social media.
In his weekly column in the Sunday Dispatch, Editor Alan Miller wrote, “It’s possible that the names will end up in the hands of someone with retribution in mind, but we don’t intend to aid anyone in that process.”
To find out more about what went into the Dispatch’s decision to omit the names of witnesses in its coverage of the trials, WOSU’s Marilyn Smith talked with Dispatch Metro Editor Kelly Lecker.
Kelly Lecker was talking about a decision by the staff of the Columbus Dispatch to omit the names of witnesses in the federal trials of members of the Short North Posse.
Hear Marilyn Smith's conversation with Dispatch Metro Editor Kelly Lecker.