Berekelyside's editor-In-chief says homeless death is low priority news

Berkeleyside posted a brief article on a vigil held for Roberto Benitas. Prior to the vigil, the website did not inform its readers that the event was going to take place. Members of the public were left uninformed that there was going to be a gathering, even though the website knew ahead of time. The website was able to send both a reporter and a photographer.

After the article about the vigil was posted on Saturday, a reader asked in the comments section why Berkeleyside did not cover the death which took place a week prior. The reader also asked why information about the vigil was not posted so more of the public could possibly attend. Frances Dinkelspiel responded by posting "People die all the time", and added that Benitas' death "took lower priority" than other issues reported by the website. Dinkelspiel said that Benitas' death did not have a great impact on the community compared to other stories covered by Berkeleyside.

According to Dinkelspiel, the staff at Berkeleyside was focused on big news stories that had great community community impact. Benitas died on on September 18th. On September 19th, there was no news story posted about his death. Instead, Berkeleyside reported on a semitruck which caught fire on I-80; no injuries were associated with this mundane event.

Dinkelspiel claimed that Berkeleyside writers were busy on September 18th covering the shooting of a teenager in West Berkeley. The shooting actually took place 2 days before, on September 16th. Berkeleyside had already posted a news article about the shooting on 11:25PM on the night of the 16th. The article was only 11 sentences in length. No updates were posted in the following days. There is no indication that coverage of the shooting would have impeded any possible reporting on Benitas' death.

According to the Dinselspiel, the resignation of the Berkeley police chief took priority from covering Benitas' death. The chief of police did not resign until September 21st, which was 3 days after Benitas was found in his sleeping bag in front of the UHaul building. It is not clear how the chief's resignation could have prevented Berkeleyside from writing about Benitas in the days before the chief made his announcement to step down.

Other events such as a shooting on the 21st, and other crimes later in the week, happened days after Benitas was found. It seems like Berkeleyside could have made some mention of his passing. Berkeleyside didn't need to a write a biography on Benitas, but they could have posted a story that the homeless man was found dead. Clearly, at the time Berkeleyside would not have had access to Benitas' name, but Berkeleyside could have used John Doe as a place holder until a name was given by the coroner. The website, which had knowledge about the vigil before it occurred, could have easily given the public advanced notice so others could go in solidarity.

Benitas was said to have died of natural causes. But the homeless population in the United States has a life expectancy of 52 years on average. For the homeless population, a death by natural causes can occur much sooner in life. Dinskelspiel wrote that "people die all the time", but some people die sooner than others. Some people die more alone that others. Some people die in a sleeping bag on the ground outside. Bentitas' death may have an impact, if we change the way we think about homelessness, and if people are driven to demand housing and services for those in need.