From: Michael S. Lorrey (retroman@turbont.net)
Date: Tue Jun 20 2000 - 18:50:42 MDT
Harvey Newstrom wrote:
>
> Michael Lorrey wrote:
> >Thats how much crime is here as well, only the media spins the story based on
> >the circumstances. If Bum A was a woman and Bum B was a man, its a case of
> >'domestic violence' or 'stalking'. If Bum A is black and bum B is white, its a
> >'racist hate crime killing', while if it were the other way around,
> >it would be
> >'gang violence'. If the ratty apartment were near a school campus
> >and both bums
> >were students, it would be a 'school shooting'. If Bum B was working
> >for Bum A,
> >it would be a 'crazed worker going postal' incident, and if the
> >'apartment' was
> >the back of Bum A's van, then its 'murder on the highways'.
>
> Mike, are there legal definitions of domestic violence, stalking,
> racist crime, hate crime or gang crime where you live? If so, are
> you saying that the media report a different crime than what the
> police report? It seems like a suspect could easily win a slander
> suit against a news organization that deliberately misreported a
> crime or an arrest that never occurred.
It happens all the time on national TV and in the press. They get away
with it because its not called 'news' its called 'news analysis', which
is a muddy way of editorializing the news without admitting that its
just opinion. The press never has, and never will be confused by the
actual facts. I don't think its humanly possible for them to report a
story accurately.
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