From the editor: How we reported stories about sex abuse at Kanakuk Kamps

An investigative series into sexual abuse of children isn't the sort of story I typically assign to a freelancer. But when Nancy French approached the News-Leader in January about partnering on a project involving Branson-based Kanakuk Kamps, I was intrigued.

At that point, Nancy had been talking to victims of Kanakuk-related abuse for more than a year and with her husband, David, had published a series of articles in conservative-leaning online magazine The Dispatch.

The stories in The Dispatch primarily focused on abuse perpetrated by Pete Newman, a former Kanakuk director charged in 2009 with molesting multiple young boys he met at the camp or through affiliated ministries. Subsequent reporting and interviews with victims had revealed incidents involving other men; by partnering with the News-Leader, Nancy hoped to share that story with readers who were closer geographically to Kanakuk, as well as the national audience we share as part of the USA Today Network.

More: Survivors, ex-employees say unreported abuse at Kanakuk camps in Branson spans decades

What followed was four months of exhaustive (and at times exhausting) additional reporting, editing and legal review. Working closely with Nancy, I reviewed court documents and interview transcripts and called sources directly to confirm details and corroborate the accounts given by others. The News-Leader's name is on these stories, and readers can trust that they were developed with the same rigor and attention to detail as articles written by our staff writers.

The stories also adhere to our policies on anonymous sources.

Typically, the News-Leader does not name victims of sexual assault, and in some cases their family members, if doing so would identify a victim. For this story, several sources who were abused by Pete Newman or other men associated with Kanakuk asked us to include their names in the story.

In a few instances, we agreed not to name former campers or Kanakuk employees who maintain ties with the camp and were concerned about repercussions (many more, however, agreed to be identified). As with the other sources quoted in the stories, we worked to corroborate their accounts with documents and statements from others involved.

More: ‘It was just a thing at Kanakuk’: Campers and staff say nudity was part of camp culture

The in-depth journalism involved with a project of this size is typically something we would reserve for our subscribers. In deference to the survivors and others who chose to share their stories publicly, some for the first time, we're making them available to everyone (regular readers may be asked to register first). If you value our work and want to see more of it, information about current subscription offers can be found at News-Leader.com/subscribe.

Both the News-Leader and Nancy are committed to following up on the story and welcome feedback from readers as well as victims, former employees or campers who want to share information. Nancy can be contacted through her website, nancyfrench.com.

To reach the News-Leader, you can send an email to me (contact below) or to webeditor@news-leader.com.

As always, thank you for reading and for supporting investigative journalism in the Ozarks.

More: Kanakuk camper says she was told to apologize, denied call home after reporting abuse

Amos Bridges is the News-Leader's editor-in-chief. He can be reached at 417-836-1170, abridges@news-leader.com or on Twitter @AmosBridgesNL.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: How we reported on sex abuse at Kanakuk camps in Branson, Missouri