The Indiana Publisher

encounter . Kiel's mother Kathy, who serves as editor on the two-person staff was at home monitoring the paper's Facebook comments which speculated on things like if the group was there to loot. The comments online and in person, Kiel said, were becoming aggressive and racist. At one point, Kiel said when marchers chanted, "Black Lives Matter," a resi- dent at one house on the route answered back, "No, they don't." "There was a lot of misinforma- tion that quickly started spiraling," Kiel said. To counter that, Kiel said the best course of action seem to be livestreaming the coverage. "I'm not a broadcast journalist. I've never done that before." In the course of walking down U.S. 30, talking and streaming, what Kiel hadn't counted on was that some readers would interpret that as the paper participating in the march rather than covering it. The hundreds of Facebook comments included things like: "You chose to post it making our officers appear bad." "I watched a lot of your livestream last night and felt you were very biased ..." Kiel noted that the paper has covered a range or protests including people speaking out after the county proposed a restrictive gun ordinance. "How do you reconcile this where we're covering items that are right and left-oriented?" Kiel said. "I don't understand how people can forget all of the other stuff. It's troubling." One commenter suggested a boy- cott of the paper, others talked about canceling subscriptions — though some messages appeared to originate from people not actually in the paper's circulation area. "It's hard to know what percentage of our readers are mad at us right now." One reader threatened to sue because he appeared in the livestream. That prompted an early morning message to HSPA Execu- tive Director Steve Key who assured Kiel the reader had no grounds. The attempts to intimidate have been distracting and alarming, Kiel said. But the paper also has its supporters. "We've gotten a lot of private messages either commend- ing the coverage or sharing information," said Kiel who noted that people were reluctant to comment publicly for fear of being targeted online. Likewise, there were people who were supportive of the marchers including a Valparaiso assistant police chief who walked with them for a stretch. And after they parted ways, Nitty, the march organizer, called Kiel to make sure he was OK. Kiel said the paper's approach to serving the community remains the same and he hopes readers will recognize that. "Our goal is to be the most believable person possible around here so that when something important happens, they trust us to tell it right." August 2020 Page 10 written from the front lines of northern Tunisia. "I love the infantry because they are the underdogs," Pyle wrote that day. "They are the mud-rain-frost- and-wind boys. They have no comforts, and they even learn to live without the necessities. And in the end they are the guys that wars can't be won without." Seventy-six years later, Pyle might be writing from the sidewalk outside the emergency room of a hospital, converted to an all-COV- ID-19 treatment center. Nurses and doctors, sweaty from hours behind masks and shields and protective suits, take long breaths of the cooler evening air. They've cared for patients, intubated or on the brink, struggling to breathe, isolated from family or anyone not shielded in a protective suit. Then, another arrives in an ambulance. The nurses and doctors pull their masks back up, and walk back inside. "I think that's where Ernie would find his way," Maschino said of the writer's imaginary niche in this 21st-century crisis. "He liked the guys on the front line." Now 85 years old himself and living in Texas, Maschino is committed to bringing Pyle's legacy as a reporter to a new generation of journalists today though the foundation's efforts. The "Tribute" video, to which the nonprofit group's Facebook page (at https://bit. ly/3fhbABz) will provide a link on Monday, aims to inspire young journalists to seek out stories from people on the front lines of societal issues. Like the hospital teams, grocery store clerks and, soon, school teachers in 2020. "He would like that," Maschino said, "because he would like to tell their stories and hear what people had to say." The war on COVID-19 can't be won without them. celebrated today. Aug. 3 is the third annual national Ernie Pyle Day, which is set aside to remember and honor the Pultizer Prize-winning journalist's life and work. Aug. 3 is also his birthday. Pyle's significance and impact is recalled with special fervor in his hometown of Dana in west-central Indiana. After high school, he studied journalism at Indiana University and started his reporting career in northwest Indiana. He had a budding career as a columnist for Scripps Howard News Service first as a travel writer then as an aviation writer. But it was his work as a World War II correspondent that launched his fame. The congressional resolution that created Ernie Pyle Day was introduced by Indiana Sens. Joe Donnelly and Todd Young "Ernie Pyle's renowned career reporting throughout Indiana and World War II demonstrates the work ethic of Hoosiers and the dedication of Americans in commemorating our soldiers," Young said. "By designating National Ernie Pyle Day, his important contributions to our state and nation will be honored." Sen. Donnelly recognized Pyle's contribution to journalism: "Ernie Pyle — a Hoosier native from Dana, Indiana — forever influenced American journalism. His reporting from the battlefield in World War II captured the daily sacrifice and heroism of our service members fighting in the war." Ernie Pyle deserves his special day on Monday, and we urge Hoosiers, and all Americans, to take a moment to remember his extraordinary journalistic impact on his country during a time of great distress. A bronze statue of journalist Ernie Pyle in front of The Media School at Indiana University sports a face mask. After the college suspended classes in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pyle statue has featured different protective coverings. Pyle attended IU 1919-1923. Photo by Ruth Witmer Pyle Continued from Page 8 Day Continued from Page 8 Protest Continued from Page 1

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