Case Study: The Grand Forks Angel
In the spring of 1997, the Red River flooded the cities of Grand Forks and East Grand
Forks, N.D., causing millions of dollars in property damage. The Grand Forks Herald
continued publishing throughout the disaster, even though its own printing plant was
flooded and then destroyed by fire, prompting the newspaper’s own headline: “Hell and
High Water.” The Herald moved its newsroom to an elementary school and transmitted
copy to the St. Paul Pioneer Press printing plant, where the papers were printed and put
on a plane to Grand Forks. During the flood, the Herald distributed its papers free and
solidified as reputation as the community’s reliable source of information.
But the Herald soon found itself the subject of controversy. An anonymous donor
contributed $15 million, from which $2,000 gifts went to the 7,500 households hardest hit
by the flood. To the consternation of the town’s political and civic leaders – and of many
of its readers – the Herald disclosed that the donor was Joan Kroc, widow of McDonald’s
founder Ray Kroc.
The disclosure occurred as a result of Kroc’s visit to the town. Herald reporters got word
that the donor was in town, being given a tour of the flood-stricken area. The reporters
drove to the airport, where they established her identity from the tail markings on her
private jet, from fuel receipts, and from interviews with airport employees. The lead of
their story: “Angel was in town Saturday night. So was Joan Kroc’s jet. This appears to
be no coincidence.”
Kroc, whose request for anonymity had been made to town officials and not directly to
the news media, did not comment on the newspaper’s decision to name her. But many
other people did.
Harold Swanson, the Grand Forks city attorney, tried to persuade the Herald from naming
the donor. “Don’t, don’t, don’t,” he said. “You do that and you destroy an awful lot of
things. This is irresponsible.” Mayor Pat Owens of Grand Forks said: “The system the
donor wanted was an honor system. We honored her wishes.” Mayor Lynn Stauss of East
Grand Forks said: “You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”
Michael Maidenberg, the Herald’s publisher since 1982, weighed the protests and
decided to run the story. “In a democratic society, there has to be a free flow of
information,” he said. “Sometimes it is going to be messy.” Maidenberg continued: “The
principle of us holding onto a story and suppressing it, we could not live with it. … If
somebody called us and said, ‘Don’t put my name in the paper, and I’m going to give
$1,000 to United Way,’ … would you say our price is $1 million? If you begin to make
news judgments based on the presumption that there are dollars at stake for the
community, then we are making it on a principle that is unsustainable. We have to print
what we know and take the consequences.”
Dave Norman, owner of radio station KCNN in Grand Forks, took the opposite position.
Norman and KCNN’s talk-radio host, Scott Hennen, not only guarded Kroc’s name; they
chauffeured her on the two-hour tour of the flood area in the station’s sleek silver
Airstream “Broadcast Super Cruiser.” Hennen said, “I kind of enjoyed the mystique of it.
We were aware of the identity of the Angel from the beginning. She knew we knew her
identity and respected the fact that she wanted anonymity, and she thanked us for it.”
KCNN refused to name Kroc in local news broadcasts even after the station carried a
CBS Radio report naming her.
In Minneapolis, WCCO-TV said it had known the Angel’s identity since Elizabeth Dole,
leader of the American Red Cross, toured Grand Forks three weeks earlier. Ted Canova,
WCCO news director, said his reporters learned Kroc’s identity the same way the Herald
did later – from the tail number on her Gulfstream jet when it first parked at Grand Forks
International. (The mayors said Kroc herself was not on that flight.) There is “no
question” the station could have reported then that Kroc was the Angel but it chose not
to, Canova said. “It was clear to us that we were respecting the wishes for it to be kept
private. Everybody involved wanted it to be kept private – every victim we talked to.
They felt the generosity was more powerful without someone’s name. … In this day and
age, the townspeople knew that once the name got out, it would be the story of a
personality rather than generosity.”
The Minneapolis station reported Kroc’s name after the Herald did, sending a crew to
Grand Forks to report on the controversy that followed the Herald’s publication. “Now
it’s total knowledge…totally known,” Canova said. “It would make us look ignorant
sticking to our ethics.”
The community had a huge interest in protecting Kroc’s privacy, North Dakota Gov. Ed
Schafer and others said. Violating her anonymity could scare other potential donors
away, they said. Schafer said he would never have identified Kroc. “This person made an
almost non-understandable contribution here. … She will be hounded by people from
every other disaster anywhere else in the world. … People will be camped at her doorstep
asking for help.”
Actually, Kroc already was widely known for her philanthropy. In the preceding year, she
gave away $33 million to such causes as the Betty Ford Center, hospices and a homeless
center. She ranked 11th on Fortune’s list of the top 25 philanthropists that year.
As for discouraging other potential donors, Todd Cohen, editor and publisher of the
Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina, said: “I don’t see how publicity that identifies the
source of charity could hurt the prospect of other people following suit. In many ways, it
might strengthen it. Knowing that a particular prominent person such as Joan Kroc has
contributed to the needs of a community in tragedy could generate additional support.”
Most of the callers to KCNN’s talk show expressed anger and disappointment over the
Herald’s decision. Yet some wondered how concerned Kroc really was with her secrecy –
landing conspicuously at Grand Forks in a corporate jet. “She should have driven into
town in a 1972 Rambler,” said Tom Hennessy, sports director at KCNN, who helped
field the calls. A sampling of the calls:
Woman: “Why can’t we respect the wishes of our special angel? … She deserves her privacy.
After all she gave us, why can’t we just say thank you?”
Man: “I understand trying to find out … but I’m just incensed that they would ruin the story. I
don’t know how that helps the community?”
Man: “The Herald has been wonderful through this whole thing, keeping the paper printed
and distributing it for free. … This has ruined it all.”
A sampling of opinions expressed by town residents in Herald news stories and in the
paper’s letters column:
Ada C. Elliott: “Did the Herald forget the motto of its founder, George Winship, when it
printed the name of the flood angel? ‘It will be the people’s paper, run strictly in their
interests, guarding jealously their rights and maintaining boldly their cause.’ You owe the
community and the state an apology, as well as Mrs. Kroc.”
Ruth Wessman: “Speaking of biting the hand that feeds you. Now people are coming out in
droves to bite the hand that kept all of us informed during those turbulent days. After all, the
Herald is a newspaper – is the eye of the world.”
Joan Collette: “I am glad the Herald reports all the news and doesn’t pick and choose what it
thinks is right for us to read. Keep up the good work and keep all the news coming.”
Tom Opp: “Am I glad to know who she is? Yes and no. Her request to be anonymous should
have been respected. But I also realize your job is to get information. I was tenacious in my
work, so I admire others who are tenacious. And I was curious.”
Gail Neilsen: “If she was nicde enough to give that much money, her wishes should have
been respected.”
Maidenberg, the publisher, and Mike Jacobs, the editor, responded to the controversy by
publishing a front-page explanation of their decision. It was headlined “The Herald’s
First Commandment: Never Hold the News.” An excerpt:
The Grand Forks Herald is a newspaper. Our business is to present truthful information of
interest. That is why we chose to publish the Angel’s name.
We thought about it, and we agreed that there is more than one side to the question. We
recognize a right to privacy. We’re also sensitive to the fear that publishing the name might
endanger other charity.
Still, as journalists, we could not withhold information of interest that we knew to be true.
To do that would have violated the Herald newsroom’s first commandment, which is “Never
hold the news.” We hold that s our first commandment because we believe printing the news
is part of the bargain we have made with the community. We’d be breaking the bargain if we
didn’t print the news.
Until the weekend, the Herald had no interest in seeking the Angel’s identity, but the nature
of the story changed when the Angel, Joan Kroc, arrived in Grand Forks and her presence was
made known to us by public officials who sought coverage of her appearance, including
getting her reaction and describing her visit here.
The visit raised public interest in her identity. We’d have been subject to criticism if we
hadn’t tried to find out, and printed what we knew. …
The Herald isn’t the only media outlet interested in the identity of the Angel. We’ve had
calls from national media, some responsible and some not. It was inevitable that her name
would become known.
Here at the Herald, we felt our credibility as the source of local news would be jeopardized
if we left this story to out-of-town media. So, when we learned the identity of the Angel,
we printed a story. …
Dilemmas like this highlight the conflicting interests of community leaders and the news
media, said Mary Anne Weston, professor of history and issues at the Medill School of
Journalism at Northwestern University. “What the paper did was essentially act
independently and confirm what had been spoken about and rumored about in town. I
don’t see anything unethical particularly. I can see where the mayors might be upset. But
he and she are not the publisher of the paper.”
Questions for class discussion:
In the view of the Herald’s publisher and editor, what is the unwritten
contract between the paper and its readers? Do you agree or disagree
with it in the abstract? If you agree with it, do you think the contract
warrants revealing the identity of the Angel? In other words, does it fit
the definition of “information of interest”? And is “information of
interest” a satisfactory definition of what should be published?
 The Herald said it had no interest in identifying the Angel until she
came to town. Do you agree with the distinction the paper made?
 Two other news outlets knew the Angel’s identity but kept it secret
from its audience. What arguments did each give to explain its
decision? Do you agree or disagree with their arguments? Was it
appropriate for a news organization to drive the Angel on her tour?
 Mrs. Kroc never asked the Herald or the other media directly to
withhold her name. If you are journalist deciding whether to name
her, does this make a difference?
 Was Mrs. Kroc harmed by the Herald’s disclosure?
 Do you agree or disagree with the Herald’s statement that its decision,
was based, at least in part, on the paper’s conclusion that it was
inevitable that the Angel’s name would become known?
 As Professor Weston notes, town officials and the journalists had
conflicting interests in this case. How did their goals diverge?
 As the Herald states its first commandment—“Never hold the
news”—it is an absolute. Are journalists ever justified in holding the
news?
 Once the decision to publish the name led to complaints, was the
Herald accountable to its readers?
 If you had been the publisher of the Herald, would you have published
the Angel’s name? Be prepared to defend your decision.
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Sources:
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Mike Jacobs, editor of the Grand Forks Herald, in remarks at the 2003 convention of the
American Society of Newspaper Editors; posted at:
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=38399
Jay Black, Bob Steele and Ralph Barney, Doing Ethics in Journalism: A Handbook With Case
Studies, 3rd Ed. (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1999), 245-246.
“Angel appears in GF, EGF; Angel’s wings registered to Kroc,” Grand Forks Herald, May 19,
1997.
“Flood of complaints follows newspaper’s disclosure of donor” and “On the radio waves,” Grand
Forks Herald, May 20, 1997.
“The Herald’s first commandment: Never hold the news,” Grand Forks Herald, May 20, 1997.