Caught in the Web

Cathy Frye, a reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, won the 2004 American Society of Newspaper Editors Award for nondeadline writing. She took first place in the category for her four-part series, “Caught in the Web.” Unfortunately, the version of the story that appears on Ardemgaz.com is poorly formatted for online viewing. Conversations that were written in instant messenger or e-mail run together in a confusing manner. Words are needlessly bolded, and sentences of poetry are missing the appropriate line breaks. This lack of quality production distracts the reader from the series’ powerful narrative. That said, Frye’s writing is so evocative that I continued clicking on each link just to find out how and why 13-year-old Kacie Woody was stalked, raped, and murdered by a 47-year-old man she met in a Yahoo! chat room. It’s a haunting tale that deserves a worldwide audience — and top-notch presentation.