Reading Eagle has an editorial up about Jon and Kate

This is a pretty nice editorial about Jon and Kate. I like how the newspaper tries to scream that it is ethical, but that is another story. Overall, this editorial makes some good points.

Editor's notebook: Jon and Kate ... we'll wait
A little more than five years ago, you probably had never heard of Jon and Kate Gosselin. Now, five years and sextuplets later, they're on the cover of every tabloid newspaper and many magazines, guests on TV talk shows and the subject of debate on countless blogs and Internet sites.

They are Berks County's biggest splash into reality/celebrity television. Who hasn't heard of TLC's hit show, "Jon & Kate Plus 8," the chronicle of this family of twins and sextuplets? But they are not on the front page of the hometown Reading Eagle. At least not lately.

It's not that we wouldn't like to tell their story because, like them or hate them, they are local people who have become national celebrities. And their story would be interesting. But they don't need us anymore because they have TLC, "Good Morning America," People magazine and Oprah. It's not sour grapes on our part - just reality.We'd love to tell their real story - the truth about what life is like raising that family. And I don't mean what you see on a made-for-prime-time television show.But we don't have the national exposure they seem to want or need.

And we don't pay. And TLC keeps them under wraps. So they don't talk with us. But, at one time, they did. We told their story on Page 1 of the Reading Eagle before the sextuplets were born. April 4, 2004. We ran a wish list of things they would need, including a 15-passenger van, six new car seats, five new cribs, baby swings, strollers, clothes and diapers. We printed the children's names before they were written on the birth certificates.The Gosselins had contacted reporter Yvonne Wenger before Kate was put on bed rest in Hershey Medical Center, where the sextuplets were born on May 10, 2004. Yvonne spent time with the family before the births, which we reported on Page 1 the next day.

We told the story of volunteers from their church who were there to help them, and we listed the things that were donated to help the family. Yvonne and photographer Susan Angstadt were there to report when the entire Gosselin family returned to their Wyomissing home, which had been renovated by the NBC reality show "Home Delivery."

A year later we ran a story about their first birthday. Reporter Erin Negley even accompanied the family to a hearing when Kate was seeking state assistance to continue to cover the cost for a nurse to help care for the children.But they soon outgrew us. They moved to the Hershey area. Landed the TV show and took their local fame to a new level. Sometime in the last year or two they moved back to Berks and reportedly bought a seven-figure house on 22 acres in Lower Heidelberg Township.

Some people criticize them for taking advantage of the children. Others defend them for providing for the children's needs. Some find them fascinating and fun to watch. And some say they couldn't care less about them.But most of us have a sense of curiosity or nosiness. And many want to know if the rumors about their marital problems are true and how all the attention is impacting those eight children. In reality, some say, it's none of our business.

But Kate and Jon have made it our business, in reality. We're OK with giving them privacy, if that's what they truly want. But judging from the self-induced exposure of the television show and their books, the talk shows, the tabloids and all the stories circulating about them, that doesn't seem to be what they want.Unfortunately, what often gets lost in these scenarios is what is in the best interest of the children. Is all this taking place to help the children or because of the children? That has been the focus of much of the debate about this family. And the rumors and stories can't be good for them.

We may never know the real story about this Berks County family, because too often there is no reality in reality shows. The key word is show, not reality.

So we'll provide updates when we know they are credible. And we'll wait until there is a time if and when they want to tell their story to their local newspaper, where it will be reported fairly, truthfully and without payment.

And we may be waiting a long time.

Contact Harry Deitz: 610-371-5004 or hdeitz@readingeagle.com.