Paul Avery & The Zodiac
By: Mitch Farley
This blog will explore San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery’s coverage of the infamous Zodiac Killer in the late 1960s.
This blog is concerned with the role Avery and his colleagues played in the case including the ethical decision-making used throughout the murky process of covering the Zodiac Killer.
In August of 1969 The Chronicle, the San Francisco Examiner and the Vallejo Times-Herald each received identical letters from the self-proclaimed Zodiac Killer. Avery was working as a crime reporter for The Chronicle and was quickly assigned the beat. The letter contained information about a double homicide committed the previous month with details that were not released to the public. The letter also contained a cipher with instructions for publication; threatening to take more lives if the letter was not published on the front page.
The Chronicle was presented with a dilemma. Publishing the words of a potential serial killer could be considered dangerous and reckless. It was also possible that not publishing could lead to the loss of 12 more lives, as the letter threatened.
The editors ultimately decided to publish the cipher, in full, but not on the front page as they were concerned with starting a city-wide panic. The Chronicle published the letter on page four.
The ethical dilemma they were presented with can considered an individual-versus-community dilemma. Although publishing the letter gave attention to a heinous killer, the threat to the community was too real to ignore.
After the first contact, Avery began working on the case putting out dozens of articles in the Fall of 1969. Avery was an experienced crime reporter already, having started his career in journalism in 1955. Still, the Zodiac carried a heavy burden of responsibility. Avery wrote with a fearless tone, even in the wake of a potential serial killer. In one of his first articles about the Zodiac Avery began with:
“The killer of five who calls himself ‘Zodiac’ is a clumsy criminal, a liar and possibly a latent homosexual. That is the opinion of the homicide detectives assigned to bring in the boastful mass murderer.”
Beginning the article with such a direct and insulting quote from a detective set the tone for much of Avery’s coverage of the Zodiac. Avery refused to be intimidated by the letters and showed that with his writing. Was this risky to publish an article that could possibly be taken as taunting the Zodiac? Avery was working closely with homicide detective David Toschi who believed the strategy would be effective in silencing the killer through embarrassment.
Avery and The Chronicle had a big responsibility to the community when working on this beat. The articles Avery wrote were widely read, and were likely read by the Zodiac. There were a lot of factors to be taken into consideration when publishing these articles.
The Chronicle was receiving letters directly from the subject in an ongoing murder investigation so they had to cooperate closely with the police.
The letters also inspired a great deal of fear in the community.
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The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics states four principles as a foundation for ethical journalism.
- Seek the truth and report it
- Minimize harm
- Act independently
- Be accountable and transparent
In a case with such a profile as this, it’s important to uphold all of these principles. There are specific instances in this case where the San Francisco Chronicle showed integrity and displayed each of these principles. There were also times when they failed, and showed a not-so-ethical side of journalism.
Take for example most Avery’s articles about the Zodiac killer. On first reference he primarily refers to the killer as, “The man who calls himself the Zodiac.” Avery made this a clear distinction.
Ethical journalism tells us to be fair, accurate and to provide context. It is important for readers to know that the press did not create this name. The press is not glorifying him in any way.
Journalism is often the practice of selecting which information to publish. According to the SPJ Code of Ethics, an ethical journalist should balance the public’s need of information with the potential harm or discomfort the information could cause.
Minimizing harm was greatly important in this case. In October 1979 The Chronicle received a letter from the Zodiac with a threat to blow up a school bus if certain demands were not met. One of those demands was to print a cipher containing the threat on the front page.
According to the article below, The Chronicle followed police instructions to hold off on notifying the public in fear of causing a city-wide panic. The Chronicle cooperated with law enforcement and balanced the public’s need to know the information with the harm it could cause.
The Chronicle explained the reasoning for withholding the information for nearly seven months which is a perfect display of being accountable and transparent, another SPJ ethical principle.
The Chronicle tried different approaches throughout its coverage, including printing this message which spoke directly to the man himself:
The case inspired a great fear in the people of Northern California and it was vitally important that the press remain a trustworthy source for people to be accurately informed about the case.
In November of 1970, Avery made a decision which certainly puts a damper on ethics. Avery reported to have received an anonymous tip about an unsolved murder in Riverside, California in 1966. The murder was said to have similarities to the Zodiac killings.
Rather than inform the police, Avery published the information in the newspaper the next day. While this could be considered as acting independently, it is more often taken as recklessness, in an open murder investigation.
According to Avery’s colleague Duffy Jennings, Avery earned himself the nickname of “unsavory Avery” because of his lack of integrity during times of this case.Jennings said in an interview with All Things Interesting that he and Avery would, “sneakily shadow Zodiac suspects in hopes of surreptitiously obtaining a handwriting sample. Their efforts were in vain, as the killer continued to brazenly write to the papers without ever having his handwriting matched.”
Not every moment was a proud, ethical moment, but through accurate, responsible and transparent reporting, The Chronicle and other newspapers were able to cover this dramatic case.
The murders were never solved and the case remains, to this day, one of the biggest murder mysteries of all time. The press remained a clean source of information throughout the process and the work of the late Paul Avery remains as an example of how a journalist should act under a heavy burden of responsibility.
Sources:
Dimuro, G. (2018, March 14). The Journalist Who Got A Cryptic Note From The Zodiac Killer. Retrieved March 01, 2019, from https://allthatsinteresting.com/paul-avery
Voight, T. (Ed.). (1998, March). Zodiac Letters and Ciphers. Retrieved March 2, 2019, from http://www.zodiackiller.com/Letters.html
Editors, Biography.com. (2019, January 15). Zodiac Killer. Retrieved March 01, 2019, from https://www.biography.com/people/zodiac-killer-236027
Tahoe27. (2014, February 04). Paul Avery’s S.F. Articles — Chronological. Retrieved March 01, 2019, from https://zodiackillersite.com/viewtopic.php?f=85&t=1385#p14749
SPJ Code of Ethics — Society of Professional Journalists. (2014, September 6). Retrieved March 04, 2019, from https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
Grinell, R. (n.d.). The Los Angeles Times Letter. Retrieved March 06, 2019, from https://www.zodiacciphers.com/los-angeles-times-letter.html
