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Pastimes : Murder Mystery: Who Killed Yale Student Suzanne Jovin? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (692)	3/21/2000 3:21:00 AM
From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell	Respond to of 1397

Re: 3/21/00 - 20/20 stands by its portrayal of Yale 20/20 stands by its portrayal of Yale -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BY MICHAEL BARBARO YDN Staff Reporter Published 3/21/00 In two recent messages to a Yale graduate, Yale College Dean Richard Brodhead and University Secretary Linda Lorimer suggested that ABC News misrepresented Yale statements and sentiments about the 15-month-old investigation into the murder of Suzanne Jovin '99. A 20/20 broadcast March 1 quoted University spokesman Thomas Conroy saying that bringing more attention to the murder can "only hurt Yale" and that Yale wants to put the Jovin murder behind it -- statements some University officials deny Conroy ever made. But an ABC producer and a reporter said that, far from making off-the-cuff remarks, Conroy repeated these statements over and over again in interviews with 20/20 producers. The producer also said ABC offered administrators --including Brodhead and Lorimer -- at least a dozen opportunities to speak to the network and make an official statement, in front of a camera or for background information, about the case. Yale's portrayal on the show has sparked an emotional debate inside and outside the University. Faculty and former students have said the remarks are insensitive to the Jovin family and revealed inept public relations policies. Administrators maintain that the comments do not represent Yale's official attitude about the murder, and Lorimer said she will issue a statement clarifying the University's remarks today. Jovin, a 21-year-old political science major from Goettingen, Germany, was found suffering from 17 stab wounds about a mile north of campus Dec. 4, 1998. "As you well know, the media makes stories as much as it reports them. The 'story' that Yale does not care about Suzanne is a fiction and a fib," Brodhead wrote to Michael Blum '98, a friend of Jovin's, in a March e-mail obtained by the Yale Daily News. But ABC News stands by its portrayal of Yale's sentiment toward the murder. "There was no misrepresentation," said Jude Dratt, a producer at 20/20 who worked on the special. Dratt said Conroy made his broadcasted remarks "repeatedly" and that Conroy said they represented Yale's official position on the case. ABC News employees contend that Brodhead and Lorimer did not respond to at least six requests each for interviews -- either on camera or off. Brodhead said ABC never directly contacted him about the story. Lorimer would not comment on any aspect of the ABC program until the release of her statement. Yale President Richard Levin also declined to comment on the report. Critics, even within ABC News, said they found University administrators' steadfast refusal to talk to 20/20 jarring. "From a public relations standpoint, it was tantamount to sticking their heads in the sand," said John Miller, an ABC News correspondent who investigated the case for 20/20 and a former New York City police spokesman. "It was difficult to believe this was the best they could do." Administrators have said 20/20 ignored Yale's previous and widely publicized comments on the case. "The attitude of the University as portrayed on the show does not correspond to the truth," Brodhead said last night. But students and faculty said both Conroy's remarks and Lorimer and Brodhead's silence were mistakes. "I know what ABC was told. I trusted Brodhead when he wrote to me that the notion that Yale does not care about Suzanne is a fiction and a fib," said Blum, who complained about Yale's comments to Brodhead, Lorimer and Levin in March after viewing the 20/20 special on the murder. But "Linda Lorimer's e-mail to me already suggested the University was now more interested in damage control than facing the facts that someone did something that was wrong." Lorimer told Blum in an e-mail that she and Levin are disappointed with ABC's presentation and "expected the network to rely on the [previous] statements by senior University administrators." Tom and Donna Jovin were unavailable for comment Monday. Responding to Conroy's statement that Yale wants to move on, Tom Jovin, the slain Davenport senior's father told 20/20, "I think my reaction is no, they have to deal with this. The fact is that it happened at Yale, it involved a student of Yale, and its responsibility as a University [is] to deal with that." Political science professor David Cameron said he cannot believe that three weeks after the broadcast the University has still not publicly disavowed Conroy's remarks. "I hope the University will issue such a disavowal and say what should have been said in the first place -- that the Yale community was and remains devastated by Suzanne Jovin's murder, that the University is committed to doing everything in its power to assist the police in bringing the person responsible to justice and that it is committed to keeping the memory of Suzanne Jovin and all the good she did for people in New Haven alive at Yale," he said. -- YDN Staff Reporters Tim R. Cooper and Michael Horn contributed to this report. yaledailynews.com