Posted on 04/17/2007 10:22:20 AM PDT by neverdem
Newsrooms tend to follow a conventional story line on social issues. As the late commentator and editor Michael Kelly wrote, "most journalists learn to see the world through a set of standard templates into which they plug each day's events." The most obvious templates concern race — whites are oppressing blacks, gender — men are oppressing women, and class — the privileged are oppressing the poor.
Since all three of these templates were in play during the Duke race case, how surprising is it that this triple high tide resulted in some of the worst journalism of the decade?
Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post, the best of our press critics, wrote that almost everybody wrote that the Rutgers women's basketball team had been unfairly maligned by Don Imus, but in the case of the Duke lacrosse players "very few have talked about how the media slimed them."
Much of the reporting, perhaps most of it, committed early to the truth of the rape accusation and the guilt of the lacrosse players. News stories kept reminding us that a struggling black single mother and college student was confronting the arrogant racist power of privileged thugs. As reporters stuck close to the well-established story line, fact-free journalism flourished.
Stuart Taylor saw through the hoax in a devastating May 2006 column in the National Journal. It should have ended the orgy of conventional reporting in major papers, but templates are hard to overcome.
In August, the New York Times ran a stupefying 5,600-word analysis that sloughed off or ignored all the mounting evidence of prosecutorial fraud. A Brooklyn College professor, K.C. Johnson, who ran brilliant daily commentary on the case in his Durham-in-Wonderland Web site, recently listed the 10 worst articles on the case to appear in major papers over the last...
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
Wendy Murphy and Nancy Grace are still not convinced the Duke players are innocent, I’m sure. I doubt the female editors of the local NC newspapers are, either.
Media’s Nappy bump
Sources: Virginia Tech gunman left note This may be a case of an Islamic convert with serotonin syndrome.
The Left's Crusade to Silence Debate (The Media Cornucopia) The Media Cornucopia is the actual title. Some on the left say we need to return to the Fairness Doctrine. Others on the left say there is too much choice in the media.
Paranoia and the U.S. Attorney Controversy - Is Chuck Schumer losing his mind?
From time to time, I’ll ping on noteworthy articles about politics, foreign and military affairs. FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.
Thanks for the ping!
Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post, the best of our press critics, wrote that almost everybody wrote that the Rutgers women's basketball team had been unfairly maligned by Don Imus, but in the case of the Duke lacrosse players "very few have talked about how the media slimed them." ...As reporters stuck close to the well-established story line, fact-free journalism flourished. Stuart Taylor saw through the hoax in a devastating May 2006 column in the National Journal... In August, the New York Times ran a stupefying 5,600-word analysis that sloughed off or ignored all the mounting evidence of prosecutorial fraud.
I hope they do what Richard Jewel ( falsely accused atlantic Olympic bomber) did. Hire a lawyer and do all the research of every article of every paper and newscast and started filing lawsuits.
I just consider this another FRAUDcasters situation.
They can’t change. They simply have to go away now.
bttt
John Leo is a delight. Back in the day he was *the* reason to subscribe to US News & World Report.
Good to see his work at the NY Sun.
Thanks for the ping.
Outstanding article by John Leo. The “triple high tide” was a tsunami. It’s amazing in the aftermath, that intellectual looters are still taking advantage of the destruction. Thanks to John Leo for pointing some of them out.
Hey! The NY Times only had 5 months to dig into this... you can't expect a newspaper to get all the facts right in that short amount of time. I'm sure the Times will apologize to the Duke lacrosse papers, their readers, and the world... around the same time John Kerry releases his military records.
“A Brooklyn College professor, K.C. Johnson, who ran brilliant daily commentary on the case in his Durham-in-Wonderland Web site, recently listed the 10 worst articles on the case to appear in major papers “
Interesting footnote here. This is the Professor who had a huge tenure battle because of his conservative views and Brooklyn College’s shameful discrimination.
LOL! It's too bad that the NY Sun doesn't have the name recognition and resources of the NY Times. We're not going to be rid of lame stream media like the Times any time soon. IIRC, I believe it was on PBS about the state of the media recently, they said 90 - 95 % of original news stories on the net come from newpapers and wire stories.
Thus the need for more FReepers, bloggers and truthseekers everywhere. Lots of work to be done. Thanks in advance to those individuals.
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