Poynter on the Record

The cover story is about a now-famous Austin High School art teacher. Eight of the 16 pages are stories about crime. But what got Troy Oskerson interested in publishing Austin's newest newspaper is what is on pages 12 through 14: fugitives.

Inspired by seeing the murder of his father when he was a child, the 31-year-old Oskerson has made it his mission to track down wanted criminals in the Central Texas area.

The former bounty hunter figured the best way to do that was to create a newspaper devoted to covering local crime stories. Called The Fugitive Post, this new 16-page free tabloid newspaper is part crime news, part "Wanted" poster.

After the crime-related stories, which range from a profile of the new police chief to a story about Krav Maga, a self-defense technique, the last five pages of every issue are filled with pictures of Austin residents. They are wanted for everything from writing bad checks to murder. There are also pictures of missing Austin children.

The paper's slogan is "Crime News. It Pays to Know."

"Crime is everywhere," said Oskerson. "What I'm trying to say is, 'You have this crime in Austin; now let's clean it up.' " ...

...The paper's strategy is to bring in readers with entertaining articles, then slip in the mug shots and photos of missing children.

"If you direct the content to be entertaining and exciting, then you fit in the other material like the missing kids and the fugitives, it gives them a reason to pick it up," Oskerson said.

Ethicists are watching.

"The bright side is this paper would encourage thinking about crime and justice. People will learn about taking responsibility and making your community safe," said Roy Peter Clark, of the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank. "The dark side is everything from a potential to vigilante justice to a mistaken impression that your community is more dangerous than it is."
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