Whales or racism?
I've lost count of how many times I've heard a radio news report on those whales who've gone miles upstream near Sacramento, CA. Or how many times I've heard the sad, sad story about a rural church in Ohio that burned down this week and now the members are struggling to "move on" with their lives. But the story about the 5 African Americans who kidnapped, tortured, raped, murdered and dismembered a couple of white college students? Not a peep except around Knoxville.Why do we get swamped with stories about the Duke lacrosse students being guilty before the evidence is even gathered with national coverage and the Jesse noose posse getting ready to hang them on the basis of the accusation of an exotic dancer who's done this before. But barely a word except on the internet on what was obviously a racially motivated, brutal torture and killing. If this had been a bunch of white guys (and one woman) torturing and raping a black man and woman, or someone cutting off the penis of a homosexual, we would have had riots in the streets with the network and cable news media whipping up the frenzy with hordes of cameras and "journalists."
I have no doubt that the psycho-sicko crew will get their much deserved punishment, or that we have sufficient laws to cover this without hate crimes legislation--the two young people couldn't be more dead if there had been a motive other than hate. But what sort of punishment should the media get for slobbering all over the Duke story peeking under every possible rock looking for racism (except on the part of the woman) when some white athletes hire a woman who has willingly chosen this lucrative type of profession, and ignore the other? And Don Imus using the word Ho to insult black female athletes--the media acted like the world would come to an end. Well, it actually did end for Newsom and Christian. Why do we get endless hours of Anna Nicole or whales who try to swim upriver and yet the two older Ohio women who disappeared 4 weeks ago barely get a blip. It took 3 weeks to make it to AP and Fox.
I don't want the media to make news; I just want them to report news.
WaPo defends the media coverage of the mutilation murders
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2 comments:
How terrible!
I live in Canada, and you're absolutely right, I've heard nothing of this terrible crime, despite being inundated with American news stories of every size and shape.
Why do the fluff stories get coverage while true crime gets ignored, you inquire?
Somewhere in some air-conditioned office, far from the reality of what actually happened, a mid-level executive looked at the Christian-Newsome murder story in Knoxville as it was coming off the police blotter, and was terrified at the possibility of losing his swanky job should he/she actually report it. They all answer to someone higher up, all the way to the broadcasting company CEO, and they don't want to be the one to be offered up as the scape goat when one race is incited to protest against another due to honest reporting. Just my take on the situation.
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