BY MARK SCHUMANN

The island weekly, Vero Beach 32963, reported recently that Indian River County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Milo Thornton, the 2012 Officer of the Year,  had been placed on paid administrative leave under what was “akin to house arrest.”

At best, that statement is an exaggeration.

Law enforcement agencies commonly require employees who are on paid administrative leave to remain at home and available to the department from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.  If this is “akin to house arrest,” as the island weekly reported, then presumably one could argue that, in as much as corrections officers work in the jail, they are under arrest and imprisoned during the hours of their employment.

Clearly the island weekly, given as it is to tabloid-style journalism, was attempting to draw readers into its story by leading them to believe Sgt. Thornton was suspected of committing an offense serious enough to warrant “house arrest.”  This irresponsible reporting was a disservice to the community, and an injustice to Sgt. Thornton, who has since been cleared of all allegations.

It is now known that the two deputies who accused Sgt. Thornton of creating a hostile work environment are in a personal relationship with each other.  While that relationship is not a violation of Sheriff’s Office policy, in this case, it certainly led to a lot of unnecessary drama.

We are all familiar with the term “caveat emptor,” which is Latin for “Let the buyer beware.”  With the advent of “infotainment,” the current and relevant caution is, “Let the consumer of what passes for news beware.”

Unfortunately, some in the media will say or print just about anything to attract and hold an audience.  Recently the entertainers at CNN, pretending to be journalist, offered around-the-clock updates on what they were selling as the “Korean Crisis.”

Back in the day with the media exercised restraint and was in possession of some degree of good judgment, news “alerts” were reserved for serious, breaking stories.  Today, the message behind many of these calls for attention is simply, “Watch our news channel.”  Or, “Read our newspaper.”

If reporters and editors are going to continue screaming for attention and exaggerating and distorting the truth in order to build readership, consumers of news would do well to exercise their own good judgment.

Let the reader beware.