Prostitution sting coverage claim easier to explain than the sting itself

Sometimes the simple answer is the right answer. Simple, stupid even, but the right one. In a comment on Lisa Jones's blog about the coverage of the Troy Lowrie bust -- which fueled Peter Boyles's radio show yesterday, and is again today -- a commenter suggested that Westword's Latest Word...

By Patricia Calhoun

August 31, 2011

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Sometimes the simple answer is the right answer. Simple, stupid even, but the right one.

In a comment on Lisa Jones's blog about the coverage of the Troy Lowrie bust -- which fueled Peter Boyles's radio show yesterday, and is again today -- a commenter suggested that Westword's Latest Word blog wouldn't write about the arrest because Lowrie's strip clubs advertise in Westword.

As Michael Roberts noted in his post yesterday, he didn't report the arrest because was on vacation when Lowrie's July arrest was reported, and reported widely, in the media, and there didn't seem much reason to repeat the news until something new developed.

Boy howdy, is it developing now. After the charges were dropped, Troy Lowrie was the focus of a CBS4 piece that caught Boyles's eye. Then, Lowrie called in to tell his side of the story: how he was trapped in a Denver Police Department sting, and the cops lied. And then, mysteriously, a missing audiotape of the sting showed up yesterday afternoon, and Boyles is now playing it today, before Lowrie makes a second appearance at 8 a.m.

The tape is murky, as is this entire story. Some answers are simple -- but when you're trying to get the full story, it's very rarely black and white.

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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