National Media's Refusal to Cover White Couple's Murder Suggests PC at Work

NewsBusters ^ | Matthew Sheffield

[CeasarsGhost]

"I hate to be the one throwing cold water, but the accused in this case are not members of an athletic team for a major university."

I must disagree; who the heck even knows what lacrosse is, much less follows it? The greatest lacrosse player who ever lived is.....is....is...., I don't know, or care.

The fact is that the alleged perps were successful white males, and that's why the media needed wallow in the non-story. There's nothing like successful white males abusing a 'person of color' to help perpetuate the so-called 'racial divide' and rip the fabric of our society apart. That's the media's primary job in this age, to tear apart traditional, peaceful America and raise up a repulsive caricature in its stead.

[68skylark]

One reason the networks haven't run this story "is because they can't fit it into a narrative of anything other than shock and horror, and you can find that in any crime story anywhere."

I agree. The press has a pretty specific narrative: American sucks, especially in the way it treats blacks, gays and women. Anything that fits the narrative gets publicized. Anything that doesn't fit the narrative gets buried.

[Disambiguator]

Another story that never really saw the light of day was about a 13 year-old boy that was raped to death by two homosexuals. Jesse Dirkhising was his name, I believe.

PC rules the press, to be sure, and they’re not doing the general public a service by spiking these stories. If anything, they will help other innocents get killed.

[azhenfud]

Racism only runs one way. I penned this objection to the article found at the link - to no avail.

It is appalling to see such blatant hatred for persons based upon race as one Soloman Burnette has exhibited in his piece posted at: http://www.nccu.edu/campus/echo/o-burnette.html and even more disgusting any form of academic institution would poise itself as a medium to pedestal such intolerance and indigence of learning.

For example, Burnette displays his profound lack of intelligence and his deep-seated caustic prejudice by the statement:

“White people still murder us with impunity.”

Yet data from FBI’s own reporting website says for 2005:

Data from single victim/single offender incidents showed that 92.6 percent of black victims were murdered by black offenders, and 84.8 percent of white victims were murdered by white offenders. (Based on Expanded Homicide Data Table 5.)

---

According to the FBI figures, it is persons of other races contributing to a greater percentage of murders to the White population while Blacks murder more of their own. Burnette is nothing short of an ignorant, racist bigot whose factually-devoid writings have no place near any taxpayer supported institution of academia.

NCCU ought to be ashamed and persons outraged it allows its name associated with such hateful, misled characters - disclaimer or not.

I’ve so duly noted Burkette has been, in fact, a frequent personal contributor to FBI violent crime statistics. How odd he should consider himself a qualified spokesperson against crime committed by any other racial group.

---

Councilwoman’s son, 18, accused of hitting mom
Burnette allegedly punched his mother in her face, head
Herald-Sun, The (Durham, NC)
February 24, 1998
Author: PAUL BONNER The Herald-Sun
City Councilwoman Brenda Burnette’s son was arrested Friday for allegedly punching his mother in the face.
Solomon Burnette, 18, already faces armed-robbery charges filed in December by Duke University police. He was returned early Saturday to Durham County Jail, where he spent five days before Christmas on the earlier charges before a family friend posted bond.

His $400 bond on the new charge, a misdemeanor count of assault on a woman, is a fraction of the earlier $10,000 bond. Yet Burnette spent the weekend in jail and made a first court appearance on the charge Monday, after which he was returned to jail.

Brenda Burnette declined to discuss the incident, and few details were available elsewhere. According to a citation filed by Durham police, Solomon Burnette hit his mother on the face and head.

(snip)

Hughes also represents Solomon Burnette on charges he robbed two Duke students at gunpoint near Markham Avenue and Berkeley Street on Nov. 30. The students identified Burnette from a photograph as one of two robbers — mistakenly, Brenda Burnette has maintained. She has stood by her son’s innocence on those charges, while saying that ``something needed to happen to get his attention’’ about other questionable conduct.

Before his troubles began — and before his mother was elected in November to the council — Solomon Burnette’s media exposure was as a gifted student whose science-fair project was highlighted in a conference in Washington, D.C.

//

Councilwoman’s son violates probation terms
Herald-Sun, The (Durham, NC)
March 14, 2000
Author: JOHN STEVENSON The Herald-Sun

City Councilwoman Brenda Burnette’s son admitted in court Monday that he had violated probation by testing positive for marijuana, disregarding curfews and failing to pay fines.
Solomon Burnette, 20, was sentenced to between 12 and 15 months in prison after he admitted the violations to Superior Court Judge Ron Stephens.

Burnette had been on probation for robbery and marijuana convictions.

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NCCU’s continued association with and failure to take action against this individual will and should, by many, be considered nothing less than an endorsement of his attitude and a condonement of racial violence and intolerance.

[LWalk18]

must disagree; who the heck even knows what lacrosse is, much less follows it?

They were just lacrosse players, but they played for Duke, who has a well known basketball team and is one of the top universities in the country. If this had happened at Podunk State, you wouldn't have heard about it beyond local news.

[Nea Wood]

This explains why you continue to see "news" stories about cold cases such as Natalee Holloway or JonBenet Ramsey...

In those cases, I think beauty was the factor more than race. A story is always more "interesting" to the public if the victim is beautiful.

[Dante3]

A horrific crime. MSM even refused to give much attention to the Wichita Massacre by those two subhumans, the brothers Reginald and Jonathan Carr while going into a frenzy over much less gruesome crimes.

[FortWorthPatriot]

"Snopes is generally OK, but they always throw in liberal pandering B.S. into their articles."

Did you notice how they attempted to explain away why this story didn't receive any national coverage?

It sickens me that I have not heard of this incident. This should have made national headlines IMHO.

[George W. Bush]

The sudden force that the liberal press brought to bear on the falsely accused Duke lacrosse team has been curiously absent on a much more grisly crime committed against a white couple by a group of black youths.

Apparently, if you're white, you pass directly from infancy to maturity. Why don't white guys ever get to be "yout's" anyway?

However the media's coverage of race is tough to characterize because the same national press that is refusing to cover this story is also the same media that obssesses over missing white women to the exclusion of women of any other race.

Mostly if it means Greta & Friends get to live in Aruba for the duration. Or if it involves the murder of a pregnant pretty blond woman by her husband (who is a man), inexplicable given the media's overwhelming defense of the female parent's right to abort offspring on the basis of her feelings about it.

---

The lack of coverage in the grisly rape-murder-torture in this case is reminiscent of the media orgy over Matthew Shepherd while it steadfastly avoided any mention of Jesse Dirkhising. There was outright conspiracy by media outlets to downplay the Dirkhising murder.

Jesse Dirkhising - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
WorldNetDaily: The tragic story of Jesse Dirkhising

[live+let_live]

Dog bites man = not news

Man bites dog = news

So the question is this: Is this crime an unusual occurance?

If yes, it should be covered. If no, it won’t be.

[CeasarsGhost]

"If this had happened at Podunk State, you wouldn't have heard about it beyond local news."

This may or may not be true. But I stand by what I said originally, that these guys were successful white males who allegedly abused a 'downtrodden black', and that was the reason for the media saturation. The fact that they attended Duke gave the media the proof they needed that the guys were indeed successful young men from successful white families. There is nothing the leftist media enjoys more than helping to perpetuate female 'empowerment', racial tension and economic divisions, and this story had all three of their favorite divisive elements. The only thing missing from the story being a media Grand Slam was that the alleged 'victim' wasn't a lesbian.

[CeasarsGhost]

"So the question is this: Is this crime an unusual occurance? If yes, it should be covered. If no, it won’t be."

So, a drug addicted, mentally disturbed professional STRIPPER who gets sexually abused is "man-bites-dog" news?

[synbad600]

What about blacks murdering blacks? Where’s the “rev” when that happens?

[Major Matt Mason]

One reason the networks haven't run this story "is because they can't fit it into a narrative of anything other than shock and horror, and you can find that in any crime story anywhere."..."

Excuses, excuses. No wonder the media is in a freefall - they deserve their eventual demise.

[live+let_live]

Since in our current climate, freedom of speech doesn’t cover all issues, I felt the need to comment in code.

I realise not all people will understand.

[RonF]

I must disagree; who the heck even knows what lacrosse is, much less follows it?

Lots of people. Lacrosse at the high school level has been the fastest growing sport over the last 3 years. My son played for his high school and now plays for his university. Sports Illustrated did a story on it last year about how it's growing by leaps and bounds nationally. The kids like it because it combines running, hand-eye coordination and contact. Additionally, a variety of body types can play it; even the kid who can't run very fast can play goalie if he's got good reactions and eye-hand coordination.

The kids also like it, according to SI, because their parents don't know the rules and thus can't sit on the sidelines and yell at the refs and the coaches. Seriously.

The State of Illinois only had a handful of teams a few years ago. Now they've got over 60 boys teams and over 20 girls teams and the IHSA is going to start up an official state championship.

Plus, it was invented in the U.S. by Native Americans - it's an all-American game. The French name (la crosse, "the stick") comes from the Indians teaching it to the French fur trappers and traders who first penetrated into the wilderness of Canada and America.

[CeasarsGhost]

"Lacrosse at the high school level has been the fastest growing sport over the last 3 years"

Wow. So this makes college lacrosse players national icons? The Duke lacrosse players were singled out by the media because they were WHITE, AFFLUENT and SUCCESSFUL, not because they were lacrosse players.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[PghBaldy]

Compare the coverage of this then to James Byrd or Matthew Shepherd. The Duke case was covered the way it was cause the accused were white. It was treated like a morality tale on America.