Jessica Dershem Feeds Us the Scoop

When Aaron Fisher, better known as Victim 1, first walked into the Clinton County Child and Youth Services, caseworker Jessica Dershem had no idea about the firestorm brewing behind him.

Dershem, an LHU graduate, had been working with children for about two years when Fisher, not quite 15, showed up on the CYS doorsteps with complaints against legendary PennState football coach Jerry Sandusky.

“I didn’t know who Sandusky was,” Dershem said. “I didn’t realize how big the case would get.”

At first, Fisher would not open up to Dershem. He was a vulnerable, adolescent boy who was scared to share his story with women. Instead, he gradually gained confidence in CYS psychologist Mike Gillum.

“Mike is experienced, male and just really has this way of making kids open up to him,” Dershem said.

Though Gillum played a key role in helping Fisher to open up, Dershem’s part was just as important in breaking this case. She led an interview with Sandusky and his lawyer and eventually testified in court on Fisher’s behalf.

During the interview with Sandusky, Dershem said the coach acted as if his questionable actions with Fisher were perfectly normal. He nonchalantly admitted to kissing Fisher on the forehead, cracking his back and blowing raspberries on his stomach.

However, Sandusky denied any sexual contact.

“He never showed remorse,” she said. “He still hasn’t admitted to doing anything wrong.”

Dershem said Sandusky’s actions throughout the interview only made Fisher’s story more believable, although his lawyer seemed unconcerned.

“The attorney let Sandusky speak freely,” Dershem said. “He never objected to any of my questions or told Sandusky not to say anything.”

Though Dershem did not know anything of Sandusky’s past prior to Fisher’s case, she now firmly believes that he should have been arrested after a report was filed in 1998 stating he showered naked with a pre-teen boy and touched him inappropriately. If this had happened, she said, Fisher and many other boys may have been spared.

Instead, Sandusky got off scot-free while PennState and Sandusky’s charity, The Second Mile, also chose to take no action against him.

While PennState is taking hit after hit in legal fees, lawsuits and other penalties, Dershem believes The Second Mile should also have been looked at more closely before the charity went asunder.

“The program could have survived, but some of the higher-ups should have been let go,” Dershem said. “Rumor has it The Second Mile lost some personnel files on names starting with ‘S’. I don’t know if those files have been found yet.”

Jessica Dershem receives the first annual statewide Pam Cousins Champion for Children Award from Clinton County’s Assistant Director of Children and Youth Services, Jennifer Sobjak.

JIM RUNKLE/ THE EXPRESS

My Dream News Media Web Site

My online news organization would run a site consisting of news by the people for the people. If I were a billionaire, I’d create a nonprofit site that catered to everyone from blue-, white- and pink-collar workers to millennials to new and old money.

I would hold high standards of journalistic integrity in my newsroom. I’d do everything in my power to eliminate corrupt, biased news.

While we would cover events for entertainment value, our first and foremost reason for being would be to show people the truth about what is going on in their own country as well as throughout the world. I would have paid staff members on assignment, covering events of every kind. The organization would include content to the tune of The New York Times, Time Magazine and National Geographic.

They would work around the clock to cover national and international stories. We would follow up with nations that were huge on mainstream media just months ago, but suddenly no longer exist to Americans – such as Egypt and Syria, Iraq and Iran. We would cover nations that go unnoticed to us – such as Canada, Brazil and Australia.

On the local front, we would keep our eyes on everything from politics, sports and entertainment to state-wide news and events. We would update hourly, more frequently for stories that require ongoing coverage.

However, we would be sure to update the moment we could verify our information is correct – not simply as soon as we have the information. Smooth and accurate wins the audience, while quick and false ends up on the wrong side of a law suit.

Watching “All the President’s Men” would be a requirement for all of my staff members, and they would be responsible for upholding a “Woodstein-esque” ethics code.

Using an online medium to publish news would mean that we could make more information available more quickly. I would draw viewers in by crafting very specific headlines. The words used in headlines can decide how easy a story is to find. When people search specific key words on search engines like Google, there is a formula that chooses what links are provided first.

By carefully choosing key words, my web site would be one of the first to appear on the first page of search engine hits. Most people choose their news by what seems to be the most relevant headline on that first page.

Once viewers click through to my site, I would draw them in with an attractive and user-friendly homepage. Easy access to all story topics such as local, national, world, politics, sports, etc., in-depth search tool options and archives that go back 20 years.

I would include portfolios for all of my staff members – this adds human interest and allows viewers to connect with an organization as well as decide whether the reporters are credible. I would also provide links to the professional web sites of my most frequent news sources, again for credibility reasons.

Of course, the standard user-friendly links to share media to other social networking sites would be available with every story as well.

In order to make the site more interactive and completely “of the people, by the people, for the people,” I would also like to include a feature similar to that of Wikipedia. I think the public should be allowed to add to news – details, photos, videos, etc. Unlike Wikipedia, however, this would be more closely monitored for the sake of truthfulness and lawfulness.

If someone had more to add to a story, there would be links through which he or she could provide personal information (required) and submit the additions. Professional staff members would then check for verification of the information and either approve or deny it. If it is approved, it would be added to the story with credit to the submitter.

People feel they can no longer trust reporters. I want to prove that they can, and should, put their faith in us.